The Red Sin
by CherryNekoChan
Summary: COMPLETE. When Kagome is separated from Inuyasha and the others during a fight, she is saved from drowning by the King of the Night... Kaname/Kagome.
1. The First Meeting

Summary

When Kagome is separated from Inuyasha and the others during a fight, she is saved from drowning by the King of the Night...

Kagome/Kaname

A/N: Oh, I am soooo excited to be bringing this to the table. This is a long chapter. Well, long for me. Not only did it give me the excuse to completely rewatch Vampire Knight, but it also gave me the excuse to reread the manga too! Is such an avid fan. -sigh-

On a completely different note, this is my first time dabbling in the Vampire Knight realm. I hope I do it justice. Oh, and Takeru is Ichijou's ancestor. I made him up. He has long blonde hair, usually worn in a low ponytail, and brown eyes. Just want to clear that up now. So now, I present to you, for your enjoyment...

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"Inuyasha! It's in its forehead!" Kagome Higurashi shouted, pulling her bow taut and letting her arrow fly. It missed and she stomped her foot in agitation. She hated that her skills in archery were so horrible.

Despite the fact that their little group had been battling this newest incarnation for the past few hours, they were barely making a dent in it's defenses. An ogre's skin was said to be iron hard, so normal weapons were nearly useless. That opted Sango's trusty bone boomerang out.

"I'm on it!" her hanyou friend cried, swinging Tessaiga around and unleashing the Wind Scar for the hundredth time and cutting off the ogre's arm. It simply laughed and regenerated the lost limb again using the power of the Jewel Shard in it's possession. Inuyasha snarled in rage and parried the blow the ogre sent his way.

Sango! What's taking so long?" he shouted, glancing at the demon slayer. His inattention cost him, and he was sent flying into some trees. There was a painful thud as his body made contact.

"I'm almost done!" Sango replied, dodging the claws that swiped at her agilely. Miroku had been incapacitated a while back after accidentally sucking in several poisonous wasps with his wind tunnel. He'd hoped to end the fight quickly; it hadn't turned out well for the monk.

Kagome chewed her lip in agitation as she reached to support Miroku's weight feebly. Sure, the monk was one of her best friends, but did he have to be so heavy?

"Lady Kagome, I apologize for being such a burden," Miroku mumbled, still loopy from the antitoxin that she had fed him nearly 15 minutes ago. The priestess huffed and dragged them over to a nearby cliff edge to get out of range.

"It's okay, Miroku. You're not a burden," Kagome soothed, setting the dark-haired male down to try and catch her breath. She would attempt another arrow in just a moment.

"Fox Fire!" Blue fire circled around the duo and warded off the poisonous insects that had tried to gether around them.

"Thanks Shippo!" the school girl called out, smiling at the young fox that took a stance in front of the humans. Shippo grinned and sent another wave out. He was getting so much stronger now.

"No problem Kagome!"

"Inuyasha! It's ready!" Sango suddenly yelled, jumping away from the monster and lobbing her newest creation at it. To Kagome, it looked like an ancient bomb, what with the wick sticking out of it and... the priestess paled in horror.

"Miroku! We've got to move!" The monk drowsily giggled, diving in for a free grope. She slapped him to get him under contorl, then pushed his away from the cliff's edge when he got too close.

Inuyasha took that moment to burst from the trees, Tessaiga ringing with it's wind powers and unleashing a devestating attack. Aimed directly at the bomb next to the ogre.

"Wind Scar!" The blades of demonic wind careened towards the creature, and though it stood there and merely laughed, the smirk on the hanyou's face never let up. The bomb ignited and an explosion rocked the area, cracks forming on the cliff edge Kagome was precariously balanced on. His victory was short-lived.

She felt the earth rumble and give way under her feet. The cliff was collapsing! The raven-haired school girl screamed as her world titled backwards.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha shouted, rushing towards his friend and stretching his arm out to try and catch the priestess. His fingers barely brushed hers and he watched helplessly as she tumbled out of sight.

"LADY KAGOME!"

"KAGOME!"

"MAMA!"

She heard her friends yelling for her as she plummeted towards the river below, screaming the entire way. A lone branch jutted out from an odd tree along the cliff and the priestess slammed into it, cracking her head and the branch. She heard and felt nothing more.

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More than anything, he'd wanted to get away from the cloying overbearing feeling of utter aloneness. The feeling of desperation that welled up inside him at the thought of his people. It had been a long time since he'd been back in his native Japan. And he felt that nothing had changed. At all. The humans were still the same. Angry, supressed, intolerable. Only this time, it was the demons that were oppressing them.

Kaname sighed in frustration, running a hand through his dark hair, and surveyed the landscape in the sunlight. It had just rained and the droplets on the land seemed to magnify the intensity of the giant fire ball in the sky. He would tolerate it, though, for the sake of a little more freedom. He had wanted to stand in the sun one last time before he decided to settle down into that eternal sleep he'd been planning.

Something flickered in the river near the tree he was standing under and his sharp eyes followed the movement. Was that... a human? How strange. What was she doing floating down the river?

_'She looks... dead,'_ he thought, carefully observing her as she bumped against a stump sticking out of the fast moving current. She groaned and coughed, spluttering up water in the process. Then, with a determined glint in her unusual blue eyes, she began to fight the current to try and cling to the stump.

_'Humans... They cling so stubbornly to what they cannot achieve. She'll drown before she makes it to the edge,'_ Kaname mused, observing in a detatched sort of way under the shade of his tree as the girl continued to fight for her life. Her grip shifted and she slowly began to inch towards the bank. It was... fascinating. She had such a strong will to live. It was uncommon for humans to have that kind of determination.

His breath caught in his throat when she flung herself onto an outcropping of stones, scrabbling fruitlessly for a hold on the smooth stones. He wanted... but that would be foolish.

_'Will she succeed?'_ He got quite a shock when her blue eyes suddenly glared in his direction. Could she-!

"Hey you! I know you're there!" she shouted, barely heard above the roar of the river.

Yes. Somehow, this little human girl could sense him.

"Don't just stand there! Help me! I can't swim!" She waved an arm before losing her grip on the rock. Shrieking, she was plummeted into the murky depths again. Heart in his throat for some reason, he hurried over to the huge log that served as an impromptu bridge.

_'Can such a bright light really be snuffed out so easily?'_ Her hand shot out of the water and he lunged for it, pulling her against the current into the tree before she was sucked under. In an easy show of strength, he plucked her out of the water and deposited her on the log next to him.

She then proceeded to cough up half the river.

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She couldn't have been more grateful when the strange man pulled her out of the river and onto the bridge. After coughing for almost three minutes, she finally sat up, shivering from the sudden gust of cold air. Pushing her discomfort aside, she leaned back and got a good look at the guy. She was sure her jaw dropped.

He was absolutely gorgeous. Dark brown hair and eyes. Pale smooth skin. Perfect features.

And here she was feeling distinctly like a drowned rat.

_'He's not human, that's for sure. Definitely some kind of demon,'_ Kagome thought, annoyance flashing through her briefly, _'Why is it that demons are so beautiful? It's not fair!'_

"Are you all right now?" he asked, elicting a shiver from the priestess. His voice sounded like dark promises on a stormy night, with just the right amount of sin mixed in.

"Y-y-yeah!" She hated that she sounded so breathless. What was wrong with her? She was acting-!

_'Like a horny teenager. I guess it's supposed to be normal.'_ But damn it all! She **was not** going to lose her composure just because some incredibly sexy demon had fished her out of a river. Taking a deep breath, she managed to center herself and flash him a nervous smile.

"I'm sorry. Near-death experiences make you all weird inside sometimes," Kagome blurted out sheepishly, rubbing her head in embarrassment, "Thank you for helping me. Usually I can swim just fine, but the current was too strong and I've done something to my ankle." She glanced down at her bum foot. "I hope it's not broken."

"Most humans can't swim. It's understandable," Mr. Gorgeous, as she'd come to dub him until further notice, replied, kneeling down to take a look at her swollen ankle, "You should probaby stay off it for a while. It looks bad."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," the priestess muttered before she could stop herself. She slapped a hand to her mouth in shock and gulped as she met his surprised gaze.

"I'm...sorry. I didn't mean it," she said in a small voice, tearing her eyes away from his with a great deal of effort. For some reason, she felt she shouldn't look into his eyes again unless she was prepared. Otherwise, she might get lost in them.

_'How strange. I didn't know demons could do stuff like that.'_

"I think I... understand. You must be a little frustrated," Mr. Gorgeous answered, faint amusement twinkling in his dark eyes, "I'm called Kaname. If you want, I could get you over to the bank so there's no chance of you falling in again." Kagome hesitated. Was that really a good idea?

"... Thank you. That would be... nice. I'm Kagome, by the way." Apparently, it was. Also, apparently, her mouth was choosing, of it's own violation, to run off without her brain's permission. Bad mouth.

He scooped her up in his arms without much reservations, much to her surprise. Were humans always so... lightweight? This girl was tiny! She couldn't be more than a young teenager, if he were to guesstimate.

He set her down gently on the bank, watching her curiously as she examined her ankle, hissed in pain when she touched it, then took a look at her surroundings.

"I think... I'm going to have to stay here until my friends find me," Kagaome muttered, glancing around again in slight paranoia. She didn't recognize anything around here. She must have floated much farther down the stream than she'd initially thought.

"Are you really... going to just wait here? There are several things that would probably eat you alive around here," Kaname asked, tilting his head in askance. Himself included, had he been the type to gorge on humans. The shivering girl sighed and tried to wring some water from her indecent green kimono.

"Well, what else can I do?" she replied, sliding her leg and trying to put pressure on her injured ankle again. She groaned in pain before flopping back onto the bank in defeat. "I can't walk, I don't know where I am, and I have no weapons whatsoever! I'm practically a sitting duck!"

"I don't know about duck, but, yes, things are not looking well for you." Kagome huffed in annoyance and leveled a glare at the dark-haired man. He seemed completely unaffected.

Kaname sighed, rapidly attempting to come up with a solution to keep the life he'd just saved from being annihalated so shortly after his help. He **refused** to allow her to waste it meaninglessly. So far, the best scenario was one he wasn't going to enjoy. At all.

"I've a better idea," he decided to compromise, "Stay with me until your ankle heals up, and I'll return you to your friends." Kagome blinked up at him with bright blue eyes.

"Are you... serious?"

"I would not lie."

"But..." She was actually protesting! How was she even able to say no to him? "How would I get there? If I decided to say yes and all!" she added quickly, not wanting to sound desperate.

"I could carry you?"

"You... don't mind?"

"No."

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Kagome leaned her head on his shoulder sleepily, lulled by his dark soothing presence. After working out arrangements, Kaname had let her clambor onto his back. He'd then set of in a seemingly random direction. She should have been afraid; even terrified. But, for some reason, she could muster up the feelings. Kaname was just... different. And good. She could just tell.

"I don't really know why, but I feel... safe with you," the priestess sighed.

"... You're the first human to ever say that," Kaname replied, shifting the girls' weight on his back slightly. The sun would be down soon and he wished to have this girl safely enconsoned in his home before his fellows came out to 'play' as they liked to call it.

"Really? But you're so nice!" Kagome protested, moving her head and unintentionally pressing her cheek against his. Kaname's skin was... cool to the touch. It was odd. And, now that her niggling curiosity was coming back, she really wanted to know more about her saviour.

"Hey, Kaname?"

"Hmm?"

"What kind of demon are you?" He ground to a halt in order to give her his best incredulous stare.

"... What?"

"It's just, I can't really tell. I know what dog-demons feel like. and cat-demons, centipedes, frogs, spiders, bats-!"

"I'm not a demon, Kagome," he cut her off raising a brow at her flabbergasted look.

"Then... are you a half-demon?" the priestess asked hesitantly, hoping she hadn't offended her new friend.

"No. I'm a..." Kaname trailed off, not sure if he really wanted to tell the innocent girl what he really was.

"... A what?"

"... Vampire."

The silence stretched on for far longer than he would have liked. Now that he was becoming used to her chatter, the vampire was uncomfortable in the quiet. Kagome was a... bright girl. Full of life and personality. She wasn't someone that was just initially quiet. Sighing inwardly, Kaname continued to walk again, hoping that she wouldn't start screaming all of the sudden.

"... Really? A real vampire?"

"It's not like there are fake ones." Kagome huffed in annoyance and glared at her pack mule. He merely smirked in amusement. She was so easy to rile up. It was fun.

They spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the early evening bickering back and forth amiably until she fell asleep, her dark head resting comfortably on his shoulder.

_'Perhaps, then, she doesn't care that I'm a monster in a human form. How... strange.'_ He'd never felt so content before, and he really had this small human girl to thank for it.

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Kagome was jostled awake when he set her down gently in a chair. She looked around sleepily in confusion, brows drawing together in an effort to figure out just where she was.

It was cute.

And sadly, he could tell he was already becoming attached to the small human. It was... unnerving how easy it was.

"Whazzat! Where... are we?" she muttered, failing miserably to suppress a huge yawn. Kaname smiled charmingly.

"My home... for now, at least."

"Oh. Do you move around a lot?"

"I have to. Otherwise the humans will figure out that I'm not exactly one of them," he replied, flickering briefly into a spare room to find her something to wear. He rummaged in a drawer before drawing out a change of traditional clothes for the small female. It was a light blue yukata with a dark blue sash. They were made to fit a young woman, so he hoped they would work for her. Stepping out and handing them to her, Kagome tilted her head to the side in question as he scooped her up again and proceeded to the baths.

"A change of clothes. You can't wear what you have on. It's filthy, not to mention unsightly," he answered her unasked query easily, sliding open the bath door and stepping into the steamy room. Kagome huffed and flushed in annoyance.

_'Why does everyone always dislike my uniform?'_ She glanced down at herself and took a long look at the state of her clothes for the first since falling off that cliff. She looked... awful. Not only did she have mud caked onto several spots, but damp gunpowder, ogre guts, and nasty river water were mixed in as well.

And, Lord only knew, she probably stank to high heaven. She sudden felt bad about the vampire having to deal with her for several hours. _'His nose must be on sensory overload. Looks like I'm going to be scrapping this uniform too. There's no way those stains will come out.'_

"... Thanks. I'll... get cleaned up," the priestess muttered, biting her lip to keep from groaning when he set her down. Damn, but her foot **hurt**! He watched her carefully, resisting the urge to just baby her. When she nodded to herself and hobbled over to the huge basin, he suddenly felt that he'd overstayed his welcome in the bath and turned to sweep out of there quietly.

Kagome finally sighed in relief when the door closed. She'd been debating on how to tell him **nicely** that he needed to leave when the vampire suddenly turned and left. It would make things much easier; not to mention less embarrassing.

With that thought, she got herself ready for a long, hot, luxurious bath.

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She was carried to his room still wearing her socks. She'd hesitated about wearing them, but her feet were freezing. In the end, she'd scrubbed the cotton to the best of her ability and set them over a heated stone to dry.

And when Kagome finally felt significantly cleaner, she dressed in the yukata with rosy cheeks and donned her slightly damp socks to ward off the chill. Kaname had merely raised a brow in amusement and swept her off her feet again.

_'I think he actually likes carrying me,'_ the priestess mused, muttering under her breath about being treated like a porcelain doll.

"If you try to walk on that bad ankle, you may permanantly damage it," he'd huffed when she voiced her opinion out loud, "I am not an expert on human healing, but even I know that."

Kagome had fallen into a sullen silence after that. This was how she came to meet Kaname's friend Takeru Ichijou.

The blonde vampire was... interesting. He was a complete contradiction. A happy vampire? How was that even possible? But they'd hit it off right away, and for that, Kaname was grateful. It would have been upsetting had his only true comrade disliked the human girl. They chattered amiably about this and that as he gathered the supplies to make a splint for Kagome's ankle. And when he knelt down in front of her, he immediately noticed when they fell silent.

"Umm, Kaname?"

"Hmm?" He reached for her injured foot and slowly peeled the sock down her leg. Her skin was... soft.

"What are you doing?" she squeaked, much to Takeru's amusement. Kaname glanced up at her in what looked like confusion. Truly, though, he was feeling wickedly amused. This girl had some interesting reactions.

"Fixing your ankle," he replied innocently, splinting and wrapping her foot slowly. He even leaned down and laid a tiny kiss on the bandage when he was done; if only to see what color red she would turn. "There. All better."

Kagome flushed bright crimson, squirming slightly in embarrassment at this suddenly playful side of the vampire.

_'He's so hard to figure out!'_

"T-t-thank you," the priestess stuttered, sliding her foot away hastily and tucking it underneath her quickly before the sneaky male could pull anymore tricks.

He rose, a smirk barely visible on his handsome face. "I'll find you something to eat. Come, Takeru." And the two vampires swept out of the room, leaving a frustrated priestess to ponder what was going on exactly.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea, Kaname?" Takeru asked the moment they were out of Kagome's earshot.

"What?"

"Keeping the girl. She's human. That's going to attract a lot of unwanted attention," his friend elaborated, playing with the ends of his long hair in agitation.

"I can't send her out there injured, Takeru. She's practically helpless," the king countered, hissing softly in annoyance when the blonde shook his head. He did not like to be questioned. Especially by his own comrades.

"I'm only trying to help you, Kaname. You in the middle of fighting a war. If those others find out about her, I guarantee they will attack her."

Kaname sighed and shook his head.

"Regardless, Takeru, she stays until she is well enough to walk again. Then I will return her to her village. It is the honorable thing to do." The blonde vampire muttered then sighed.

"If you say so, Kaname. I hope she doesn't become a hinderance." Kaname glared before knockng gently on Kagome's door.

"Kagome? I brought food? Are you-?" He opened the door and poked his head in, blinking at the sight that met him.

Kagome lay sprawled out in the middle of the bed, sleeping peacefully. Her cheeks were flushed from her bath and, now that the overwhelming stench of the river water had been washed away, her scent sparkled cleanly. She seemed... at peace.

"Kaname? What is-!"

"Shh! She's sleeping," the older vampire whispered, gliding silently in and setting the tray of soup down. There was something about this human. She was... different than her fellows. He sat down next to her and tucked a few stray strands of dark hair behind her ear. Kagome huffed quietly in her sleep and turned her face into his hand instinctively. Kaname bit back a smile at the innocent gesture.

Takeru watched quietly from the door way as his old friend handled the human girl ever so gently. He was really amazed. Kaname was not always known for being gentle and kind. This human seemed to have wormed a place into his superior's deadened heart somehow. All in the span of a few hours.

_'I didn't even know such a thing was possible. Maybe... not all humans are the same,'_ Takeru thought, brown eyes thoughtful as he observed the human girl sleeping next to his old friend. And for once, Kaname seemed truly at peace.

Kaname watched the priestess sleep for a few more hours before he made a decision.

Kagome was powerful, that much he could tell. She was unlike any other human, or vampire for that matter, that he'd ever had the chance to meet and know about. Power was something treasured and craved. It was an instictual desire for a vampire to drive himself to become more powerful.

And come hell or high water, this girl would belong to him.

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It took a week and a half before Kaname deemed her safe enough to walk. Too bad he still insisted on trying to carry her everywhere. Even though she kind of enjoyed the attention, the priestess knew she needed to get back to her friends. They were probably worried sick about her. Kaname had finally agreed with her after an enormous amount of wheedling and begging from both herself and Takeru, whom she'd initially come to like very much. He was unbelievebly sweet and even-tempered for a vampire.

For some reason, Kaname seemed reluctant to let her go. The human girl couldn't even fathom why.

They traveled for several days before they encountered the worst possible opponent, in Kagome's opinion. She really wished that Inuyasha was here.

"Interesting choice in companions you've acquired, Kagome," a dark voice rumbled behind the trio. Takeru growled, whipping out his blade and turned to face his opponent. The fact that someone had snuck up on them was extremely unnerving to him. Kaname immediately swept the human girl into his arms and whirled to face the enemy, wind kicking up in his ire.

Kagome froze up in terror at the sight of the man in the white baboon pelt several yards away. Naraku had come to visit.

_'But is this one the real one? Or another doppleganger?'_ she thought, valiently pushing down the overwhelming urge to flee in order to concentrate on the flow of energy around the half-demon.

"Interesting that you decide to show your face all of the sudden, Naraku," the priestess hissed, glaring angrily at him. There was no feeling of the Jewel on this one. It was obvious now that they were dealing with one of the puppets.

"I like to keep tabs on those I deem worthy, my dear," Naraku smoothly replied, shuffling a couple of steps forward, "However, it seems you've been separated from your guard dog."

"Well not for long." He merely chuckled darkly, taint and malice oozing from him.

"This is an... intruiging development. I never imagined that I would have such a... delicious opportunity," Naraku countered easily, quite used to playing with his prey before going in for the kill, "You are Kaname Kuran, are you not?"

Kaname inwardly snarled at the menacing hanyou that was causing his little human to shake in fear, but outwardly kept a serene facade. "I am. And who are you?"

"I... am but a lowly hanyou. I am called Naraku," he bowed mockingly to the Vampire King.

"Very well. What business do you have with me, half-demon Naraku? Be quick about it, for I have better things to do," Kaname snapped coldly, his normally dark eyes burning the crimson of his people.

"I will not keep you; I merely wish to offer my services in your quest to return the little priestess to her people," the doppleganger smoothly lied, his mouth quirking underneath the baboon mask, "Surely one such as yourself wouldn't need to worry about something so... trivial."

Kaname glanced sharply at the human girl in his arms then back at the half-demon. So, Kagome was a priestess? That would explain her sparkling scent and the underlying magic just beneath her skin. He was literally holding a ticking time bomb in his grasp.

"Master, holy beings are able to purify us as well," Takeru muttered, too lowly for Naraku or Kagome to hear. The Vampire King nodded minutely; he already knew the risks. However...

"I have no need for the assistance of a creature that terrifies my human. Be on your way, hanyou, or I will send you away in pieces," he made his decision, and by the thankful expression on Kagome's face, it was the correct one.

"... You're a fool, then, Vampire King. Her magic will rip you apart," Naraku growled menacingly, tentacles springing forth from under his pelt, "but not before I do." And then he attacked.

Takeru blocked the initial strike, parrying hits easily and slicing off several tentacles along the way. Naraku retracted slightly and feinted to the left before striking out at the blonde's right. Kagome whimpered at the sight of her friend's blood when he flipped out of the way.

Kaname hissed and muttered something under his breath before setting her down gently and instructing her to take cover in the trees nearby. The priestess beat a hasty retreat, wondering what the older vampire was planning. Her questions were answered when he whipped out a steel rod that transformed into an enormous scythe and he jumped into the fray.

Despite the fact that Kaname was incredibly fast, Naraku made up for it in cunning. Dodging several potentially fatal hits, the puppet struck out, landing a direct hit on the vampire. Kagome gasped in shock, though, when he did nothing.

Kaname grit his teeth when the half-demon managed to pierce him in the side and flipped his scythe around. Swinging swiftly, he easily decapitated the head of the puppet. It disappeared into dust.

"No, half-demon. You are the fool if you believe yourself capable of standing on equal ground with me," the king muttered, crushing the doll under his foot before going to check on Takeru. The blonde looked no worse for the wear; his injuries had already healed.

"Are you guys okay?" Kagome shouted, jogging towards them in worry. Kaname and Takeru glanced at her, then eachother, before identical arrogant smirks crossed there inhuman faces.

Kagome stumbled when the earth began to rumble underneath her. She gasped, then screamed when numerous tentacles rocketed from the earth, wrapping around her and pulling her into the sky.

"Lady Kagome!"

"Kagome!"

The priestess struggled vainly to get out, but it was useless. She was going to be taken to the enemy.

"Inuyasha," she whispered, shutting her eyes and letting a tear escape.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" Wind whipped as the giant bone boomerang tore through her prison. Kagome's eyes snapped open at the cry and the sudden sensation of falling. And then she was surrounded by warmth and the color red. She'd never been so happy to see him.

"You okay?" he asked when they landed, setting her down and looking her over briefly.

"You came for me, Inuyasha!"

"Keh! Of course I did! And I woulda been there a lot sooner if the humans hadn't slowed me down!"

"WIND TUNNEL!"

"Yeah? Well those humans are the ones fighting right now!" Kagome countered, glaring at her best friend in annoyance. Inuyasha cracked his knuckles menacingly and drew Tessaiga. Striding forward, he unleashed the blade's powers and grinned as it crystalized.

"ADAMANT BARRAGE!" Diamond crystals fired out in the arc of the Wind Scar and tore through the second puppet that hda remained hidden during the first fight, destroying it easily. Shippo took the oppotunity to set the small wooden doll on fire and cackled with glee.

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"Kaname!" He turned back just in time to catch the human girl as she tripped down the last bit of the hill. After the fight, Kagome had introduced them to her friends. Every one of them had been incredibly wary and very unnerved that the priestess had subsequently made 'nice' with two powerful vampires. Kaname and Takeru both had been a little unsure about leaving the innocent human to the devices of this group, but after watching her deal with Inuyasha when he'd started yelling at her, they knew she'd be fine. Kagome giggled up at him in thanks and adjusted her hold on... a plant?

"Be careful. You just got better."

"Sorry. I wanted to catch you before you left, though," the priestess gasped out, trying to catch her breath for a moment. She had no idea that her raging heartbeat was wreaking havoc on his senses. He wanted... No! He'd promised himself that this human would be different. There would be no taking of her blood.

"Well, now that you have me, what are you going to do?" he teased quietly. Kagome's hanyou friend's ear twitched and he growled lowly at him. The vampire resisted the juvenille urge to smirk at the boy. Kagome just blinked. She didn't get it.

"I wanted to give you this!" She proffered the plant at him, which he now realized was a tiny rose bush, "It's a special red rose my mom gave me. It only blooms once every ten years, but I may not be here to see it. So, I thought, with you having such a long life-span, I'd give it to you."

"For... Why?" Kaname asked, confused at the thoughtful gesture. The only other being that had shown such kindness to him had been... **her**. He took the pot delicately and looked the plant over. It looked healthy. And green. There was one tiny bud on it.

"Well. I wanted to thank you for helping me. I know it's not much," Kagome replied, suddenly bashful at the thought of her silly gift, "but I hope that it's something you can remember me by."

He gently tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear and smiled. How could he ever forget this little human? She was a novelty all on her own. A novelty he had every intention of keeping.

He could clearly see why she had such an odd but devoted group. Had he the chance, he would happily follow her to the ends of the earth. It was simple, really. Kagome was just... Kagome.

"Of course. Thank you, Kagome." Leaning down, he kissed her forhead and turned to leave, this time letting the smirk dominate his elegant features when Inuyasha snarled loudly at him.

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She was attacked by a group of renegade humans-turned-vampires the next time he saw her. Though her group had done farely well with the outbreak, she'd suffered, none-the-less. All because he'd wanted to be selfish for once. All because he thought her a novelty worth keeping an eye on. And it Pissed. Him. Off.

He then made the decision to erase her memory. If knowing him was putting her in that much danger, it would be safer for her to not know about vampires in general. She wouldn't be targeted any longer. He voiced his opinion to Takeru and the blonde vampire whole-heartedly agreed. The priestess in question, however, was not so keen on his idea. It was a shame she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Kagome stared up at Kaname sadly, knowing she was fighting a losing battle. He was completely resigned to his choice.

"You don't have to worry," he mumured gently, sliding his fingers through her long dark hair, "It will be as though you'd never met me. You won't remember a thing about us. It's better this way." She glanced over to Takeru, whom was smiling in remorse.

"But... I want to remember," the priestess argued, raising her hand to touch his cheek and wincing when it pulled at her wounds. If she wasn't careful, she would open it back up. And then there would be even more trouble.

"Think of it this way, Lady Kagome," Takeru stated, kneeling down next to his young human friend, "You won't have to worry about vampire attacks anymore. With us gone, they won't bother you again." His brown eyes softened when Kagome started crying.

"T-that doesn't m-m-matter! You're still my friends!" she retorted, wiping vainly at her cheeks. She felt Kaname's grip tighten on her arm before he pulled her into a hug. Something warm trickled onto the top of her head and tried to glance up. She could feel the older vampire's magic beginning to work. Already, she couldn't remember how she had met him. It was disconcerting, at best.

"Don't fight; it only makes things more difficult." His voice was fading, and she felt very sleepy all of the sudden. But she had to stay awake! She had... These people were...

_'Why... do I feel so warm? Why am I crying?'_

Kaname watched carefully as the human girl relaxed into his body, slumping almost bonelessly against him as her breathing began to even out.

_'The next time you might see us, you won't know who we are. You'll look at us through a stranger's eyes,'_ the dark-haired male thought, committing the way her blue eyes hazed over to memory, sorrow apparant in them. _'It's for the best. This is our goodbye. You're human; I'm not. There's no way something so sinful could work.'_

Kagome's eyes slid shut and she succumbed to sleep.

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Inuyasha ran his fingers through his best friend's dark hair; eerily reminiscent of the Vampire King that had recently done the same thing.

_"It would be in her best interest if you never mention us to her." Kaname leveled a superior look at the hanyou as the boy cradled Kagome to him carefully. _

_"I know that. You ain't got nothin' to worry about," Inuyasha replied, grimacing at the tear tracks on the priestess's cheeks. He hated it when she cried. He really wanted to rip the vampire's throat out. _

_"She is your responsibility now. I will not remain in contact." With that, the dark-haired ancient turned around and walked away against the background of a blood red sunset._

The half-demon sighed, shaking his head as he pondered the events of the last few weeks. How the hell Kagome had gotten a couple of vampires to befriend her went way beyond even his logic.

"Blood-sucking bastards," the silver-haired male muttered, rising and sweeping out of the hut in agitation. Things were for the best now. She was better off not knowing.

Kagome stirred and turned in her sleep.

_"Ka...na...me."_

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Two months after erasing Kagome's memories of vampires, a blood red rose bloomed from the tiny sapling she'd given him. Kaname sighed, fingering the delicate blossom as his heart clenched painfully. He'd hoped... but it was too much to ask.

"That she could have been the one to save me," the vampire muttered to himself. Rising from his place in the garden, he strode into his home and prepared himself for a long nap. He'd grown tired of the monogamous ways of the world. The time had finally come to lay himself to rest, forever.

"Too much fighting. It's time for these blood-stained hands to be at peace," he sighed, opening the door to his resting place and stepping inside the tomb. There was no need for lights. He wouldn't see them.

_'Someday, Takeru may forgive me. It's time.'_ Kaname laid back, sealing himself into the coffin with blue eyes imprinted in his mind.

He made a promise to himself. If he ever did decide to reawaken, which was highly unlikely, he would find the priestess's reincarnation and keep her forever. Nothing would stand in his way again.

Not even time.

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A/N: All right. The revision is done.

Please please please review. Your words really help me.

Revision (April 22 2011)


	2. The Pain of Losing You

A/N: Because of the overwhelming reception to the previous chapter, I'm a little nervous about giving you this next chapter. Hopefully, it will have the same enthusiastic response. I want to thank everyone for their patience as the brain ninjas made off with several of my ideas before I finally settled on this one. There were so many different ways I wanted to take this story, but with only so few chapters I plan on doing, I have to reel it in a little.

On a completely different note, did anyone else know that they finally put Vampire Knight up in **English**? WHY was I not told of this earlier? I am trying to give it the benefit of the doubt, but I'm having some reservations about it.

The point is, I don't know if I like it or not. Then again, I'm comparing to the original, which was amazing, and that usually never works out. The only time it has is with Bleach. I've only watched like an episode and a half too, so we'll see. Sorry about the rambling. I do that occasionally.

So, without further delays, I will now give you Part Two.

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He had **not** anticipated being summoned five hundred years later by a distant descendant. He had **also**not anticipated becoming something of a slave to said insane descendant. Nevertheless, as he was entertaining the most brutal way of torturing this Rido Kuran, he was finding that it was incredibly difficult to do much of anything.

His body hadn't had proper sustinance in a long time. And the infant with his name that had been sacrificed to bring him back simply wouldn't be enough. Snarling at the other vampire, he did not relinquish his choke hold on him.

"If you really think you have even the slightest chance of harnessing my abilities, fledgling, you are sorely mistaken," Kaname hissed, shakily drawing his other hand back and plunging it into Rido's chest. The hot blood felt so good against his skin, but he knew it still wouldn't be enough. He was going to go insane unless he did something.

"You should have... just let me devour you," Rido coughed, unable to move due to his injuries, "There are others... of your blood. Just beyond that door." Kaname glanced at the door, vaguely recognizing it. Two heartbeats resounded on the other side, and the prospect of fresh blood was exhilerating. Still...

"Will you... take them as well? Your own people?"

He silence the fool by slitting his throat.

The only thing he could do... was to revert. Kaname turned to his coffin; saw the infant that had brought him back from sleep, and made up his mind. If only to repay the ones that had lost their child, he would gladly take its place. And maybe at some point in time, he could fulfill his other promise.

He would find Kagome's reincarnation. And this time, nothing would stand in his way.

Calling up his magic, he allowed the feeling to overtake him, and decided to wipe his memories as well. It would keep things simple. Later, he would give himself access to them; for necessary purposes of course.

He would become Kaname Kuran.

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He was so close. So close to that warm light. The one that he craved; that he needed to keep close. So close to the one that he'd vowed to protect. Small fingers just barely brushed the door knob to his salvation before-

"Kaname." He turned to face his father, a slightly guilty expression on his young face.

"Yes, father?"

"Were you trying to go see Yuuki again?" Haruka teased, smirking when his son scowled and avoided his gaze. He was just so cute!

"I..."

"She'll be fine. Your mother is with her. For now, I have somewhere to be," the older vampire sighed, ruffling the boy's hair before steering him away from his sister's room. He did not enjoy that.

"But-!"

"You're coming with me. I'm going to pay respects to a friend's family." Kaname sighed and grumbled under his breath. He couldn't help it. He was very attached to his cute little sister.

"I... understand. Who are we going to see, father?"

"The Higurashi family. They lost their father, Kosuke, in a car accident," Haruka replied, sighing in remorse at the thought of the strong human dying so suddenly, "It's things like this that make me realize how fragile humans really are, Kaname."

"Yes. They are."

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"You didn't have to come all the way out here, Haruka-san," the human woman muttered, not meeting the pureblood's sympathetic gaze.

"I know. But Kosuke was a friend, even if we were on opposite sides."

"Thank you. Would... you like to come in for a few minutes?"

"I don't want to impose, Nazuna-san," Haruka countered. The Higurashi woman would hear nothing of it and ushered them inside.

"Hello? Who is this?" she asked, leaning down to stare into Kaname's eyes. There was no judgement. No anger. No fear. Just curiosity and a genuine warmth in the human's brown eyes.

"My son, Kaname," the older vampire stated gruffly, patting his son on the back and smiling good-naturedly.

"Oh? And how old are you, Kaname?"

"I'm 11 m'am."

"My, but you're so mature! Polite too," Mrs. Higurashi smiled gently, patting the young ancestor on the head endearingly, "Why don't you two have a seat in the living room. I'm about to feed Souta, and then put him down for the night."

Kaname nodded quietly. Somehow, though he'd never met the woman before, her smile seemed... familiar to him. It was warm. Maybe it reminded him of Juri, his mother?

No... that wasn't it. Then who-!

"He's so tiny," Haruka breathed, watching in awe as Nazuna lifted her baby boy from the bassinet carefully and cradled the child to her lovingly.

"He's only a few months old, Haruka-san," she replied, cooing gently at the gurgling baby. She raised her eyes to the older vampire, biting her lip in indecision, "Would you like to hold him?"

The current head of the Kuran Clan shook his head rapidly. "No! I wouldn't want to hurt him!"

"You raised Kaname, didn't you?" At his nod, the woman continued, "It's not any different then."

"But-! He's so... fragile looking. I'm afraid he would cry if I held him."

"Haruka-san. If my six year old daughter can do it, then you can as well," Nazuna huffed, raising a brow in amusement when Haruka blinked owlishly.

"Well..."

"Give it a try."

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Sighing quietly, Kaname watched to two adults bicker back and forth. For a human, and being the wife of an apparent former vampire hunter, Nazuna Higurashi seemed to be very accepting of his kind in general. She hadn't screamed, she hadn't run away, and she wasn't trying to kill them. Hell, the woman was practically making his father hold a human baby!

Bored with the turn of their conversation, he roamed around the living room and glanced through the several pictures sitting here and there. One was of a younger Nazuna and what he assumed was Kosuke Higurashi on their wedding day. They looked happy.

The next one was of them together under a huge cherry tree. He later found out it was called the Goshinboku, or the God Tree. Again, they looked very happy.

Several more depicted the couple in different places. In all of them, they were happy together.

_'They must have loved each other very much.' _Enough to have had children, apparently. The next one was of Nazuna and Kosuke cradling a tiny baby in the hospital. The baby had dark hair, like it's parents, and a ridiculous pink bow pinned in the meager strands. He had to assume that this was their daughter.

Several pictures were devoted to the little baby girl and her family. One amused him greatly. The baby was sitting up in a diaper and a pink bib, looking back at the camera with a bright toothless grin on her face. Her blue eyes sparkled happily and she was reaching with one hand towards the person holding the camera. And that ridiculous bow was still in her dark hair that now covered her head in a boyish fashion.

She was a cute little baby.

He wondered what her name was.

Another was the baby, now a toddler, grinning in triumph on a pink tricycle, dirt smudged across her cheeks and blue eyes absolutely glowing with pride. Her father sat behind her, looking a little worse for the wear, but still smiling for the camera. The young vampire noticed that father and daughter had the same eye color.

He knew those eyes.

Another was of the family at a New Year's festival. Nazuna was pregnant with what would later become Souta, and Kosuke was holding her close with one arm with his other hand in his daughter's tiny hand. He half expected the little girl to be wearing something pink again, but she surprised him with a light blue kimono with little golden fish splashed across it and a green obi. She was smiling in delight and holding a prize up to show the world. It was, of course, a goldfish. He could even imagine the conversation it took to get said fish.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-

_"Daddy! Look! They have fish!" _

_"Yes, sweetie. Aren't they pretty?" _

_"Yes!" The little girl would laugh and press her nose against the glass tank where all the colorful fish would be swimming. _

_"Do you want one?" her mother would ask, laughing loudly when the little girl would nod. _

_"Please, daddy! Oh, please please please! I'll take good care of it! I promise!" She would turn pleading blue eyes onto her father, who would be unable to resist. _

_"Oh... All right! Which one do you want then, angel?" Kosuke would sigh, ruffling his daughter's dark hair while his own blue eyes would glitter in challenge. _

_She would take her time deciding, and then, she would pick the most common looking one. _

_"That one!" _

_"But sweetie! Don't you want one of the red ones?" _

_She would shake her head decisively and Kosuke would ask why. _

_"Because, I want my fishy to match the other fishies on my kimono, daddy!" _

_The family would laugh at the simple logic and then the fish catching would commence._

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Kaname shook his head, smiling at the picture and moved on to the next one. His breath caught in his throat. The little girl was standing by herself under the Goshinboku with her back to the camera, and she was reaching for a scarred spot too high for her on the mighty trunk. It wasn't the fact that she looked adorable, even covered in dirt and her little blue skirt ripped down the side from obviously trying to climb up the giant tree.

No, it was the sheer determination glinting in her blue eyes that drew him in. No matter what, he felt that she wouldn't give up until she reached her goal. It was... an exhilerating thought.

Kaname turned away at the sound of pounding footsteps coming down from upstairs.

"Nazuna!" An older man burst into the room, startling Souta and making Haruka flinch away from the tiny human baby. Mrs. Higurashi glanced at her father-in-law and immediately hustled over to the baby bed. Setting Souta down, she was next to the older human in a flash.

"What's wrong?" Something had happened. Kaname tensed, his small body coiled tight in case of some kind of attack.

"It's Kagome! She's gone! I can't find her anywhere!" Grandpa Higurashi exclaimed, worry evident in his dark eyes. Nazuna's eyes widened in fear and she spun around to sprint up the stairs.

"Kagome? Kagome! Where are you?" Grandpa Higurashi began searching in the direction of the kitchen, but the two vampires would have known if a small human girl had come down the stairs.

Kaname frowned. For some reason, that name sounded incredibly familiar. He hated the fact that he hadn't quite gotten all of his previous memories back yet. The ones he had, though, were disjointed and made no sense. And there were so many that he was having trouble piecing them in the correct order. This name, however, jolted something deep in his mind and brought forth an image of a smiling teenage human girl with bright blue eyes.

_"I'm practically a sitting duck!" _a female voice grouched out. He couldn't make out the details though. This vision was very shaded. Kaname got the vague impression of long black hair and... a green kimono?

No! It looked like... a modern day school uniform that the humans wore? How strange.

_"I don't know about duck, but, yes, things are not looking well for you."_ That was a voice he **could** identify. It was his former self. Talking to a... girl? A human, at that?

_'Ka... go... me...'_

"Kaname, please help them find her," Haruka muttered, going over to baby Souta again. He'd started whimpering the moment his mother had left the room and now he was becoming agitated around the two new faces. Where was his sister?

The young ancestor was brought back to the present at the sound of his father's voice.

"It's okay, little one," the older vampire cooed softly, stroking the shock of black hair on the baby's head. He was still a little afraid to cradle the child, lest he hurt him.

Kaname rose and began searching the house as well. Not finding this 'Kagome-girl', he returned to the room his father was in. Haruka was holding a hysterical Souta and looked extremely worried.

"Nazuna-san! Your son! Please!"

"I'm going to look outside," the younger vampire announced, quickly moving out the door before his father could call him over to help. He did not want to deal with a human baby right now. The only child he chose to tolerate was Yuuki.

"K-Kaname!"

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His vision shifted and he stumbled gracelessly. Something was happening to him!

Strange voices were echoing in his head. Was another piece of his memory returning?

_"You should probaby stay off it for a while. It looks bad,"_ he heard the older version of himself say to someone, vaguely taking note of the blurry scenery. Definitely from a time long past.

_"Thank you, Captain Obvious,"_ the same female voice muttered, one that he knew he should recognize. The memory sharpened long enough to see the human girl with blue eyes again before it faded completely.

Kaname was left there blinking obliviously.

"... Did she really say that to my face?" he wondered out loud.

What a strange human!

Shaking his head, he resumed the task of finding this "Kagome" as quickly as possible. He really didn't want to deal with upset humans. It didn't take very long to locate her. She was just around the corner near what looked to be an old abandoned well house.

He followed the sniffling noise into the shade of a young oak tree. There, sat a little girl with black hair that touched her shoulders messily. Her eyes were hidden in her knees, so he couldn't really tell if she was Kagome or not, but he'd still give it a try.

"Hello? Are you lost?" He knelt down by the child, patting her head gently in consolence. She gasped and snapped her little head up. His heart immediately skipped several beats.

Her eyes were blue.

Images and sounds suddenly flooded his head and he pulled his hand away to clutch at his head. This bout of his memories was... painful. It was even making his heart hurt.

And then, a lot of things started making sense. His memories were shifting, clicking into place one by one until he had most of them placed in their spots. Now, things had just become clearer. She was the one in the pictures! And this little girl...

Was **his **Kagome.

He didn't know how, but she was right here. Smaller, yes, and much younger too. But his little human was crying in front of him.

And, for once, he was thankful for the fact that he'd had to regress his age and his body to keep himself alive.

Her scent was even the exact same. There was **no way** for a reincarnation to duplicate that. Then how-?

"Are you okay?" her childish voice hiccupped, gazing up at him in tremulous fear. She was curious. The pretty older boy look... sad. And alone. Maybe he could help her find the person she'd lost.

"... I am, actually. I feel... fine. Are you supposed to be out this late, little one?" The child whimpered and shook her head.

"No, I'm looking for someone."

"Who are you looking for?"

"My daddy. He was supposed to be here, and he said he was coming home today. He was bringing me a special present!"

"I..." how could he tell her that her precious father was gone? That he wouldn't be coming back? How could he break her little heart at the thought of one of her most beloved people being gone?

"... Listen. You're father..." he gulped. Never, in all of this life and the previous, had he been so nervous," He's gone, Kagome. He was hurt badly and he had to go far away."

"... Wh... at?" she whispered, choking on the word. She then did something he didn't expect. She yelled at him. "You... YOU'RE LYING!"

"I wish I was. He was hurt, and he can't come back," Kaname muttered, cradling her head n his hands and forcing her to look him in the eyes, "but where he is now, he's not hurting anymore. He'll keep watch over you, and he'll always be in your heart, Kagome."

Kagome sniffled, then started sobbing all over him, "But-but I wanna g-g-go too! I w-w-wanna be with da-daddy!"

"You can't!" His words came out much more sharply than he wanted and he tempered down his anger at the thought of her dying. She couldn't leave! Not when he'd only jut found her again! Kagome gazed up at him in shock.

"But... why?"

"Because..." Now he had to think of something. Something that would make enough sense to keep her here, "... Because, your father would want you to stay. He would want to you watch over your mother and the rest of your family for him."

"You... you think so?" She sounded awestruck at the important thought. He nodded quickly.

"Yes. One day, Kagome, you'll do something great. You'll change many people and make many good friends. You'll protect the ones you love with a pure heart and your determination to succeed." Now, he felt like he was pushing it a little, but if it kept her from crying and made her happy, he'd tell her anything in the world. But he wouldn't blatantly lie to her. That was the one thing he promised himself.

"Really?"

"Yes. You have to stay strong, Kagome. But, it's okay to be sad right now. Just... don't let it take you over."

Tears brimmed in her blue eyes again and she nodded, valiantly trying to suppress them. He couldn't take that sadness in her gaze and pulled her to him in a crushing embrace. "It's okay to cry now. It's okay."

He let her cry everything out; let her uncork all the emotions she'd been saving up inside her little body. Kaname muttered soothing words and rocked her back and forth with a patience he'd only acquired from being around Yuuki.

"I'm right here. It's all right now."

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She slept obliviously in his embrace, exhausted from her mourning and just plain tired from staying up way past her bed time. Shuffling the human girl gently, Kaname cradled her close, breathing in her scent deeply. The pureness was still there, accented by her childish dreams that she hadn't yet lost. Eventually, though, it would shift just slightly to the one he'd come to associate her with when she became a woman. When her powers would fully awaken. Then, he would lay his true claim to her.

"To have actually found you is nothing short of a miracle, little one," he whispered, rising and turning in the direction of the shrine. Holding her close, he leaned down and brushed a kiss across her tiny pink mouth, something he'd wanted to do even back then. "Now, it's just a matter of waiting. I'll be patient, my Kagome."

Carefully, Kaname made his way back to her home, knowing her mother would be forever grateful to him for finging her little girl. It would easily grant him all sorts of visiting rights, which would therefore lead to integrating himself more firmly into her life. He could even imagine Kagome and Yuuki meeting. They'd be instant friends because they were so alike.

Things were really starting to look up now.

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He was right. Kagome's mom was ecstatic that he'd found her. She'd then insisted that they come over more often, if only to keep in touch. Kaname happily agreed.

He even came to see her several times without his father. Each time, Kagome would give him a gentle smile that never ceased to pull at his heart. She wasn't quite as happy as he'd hoped, what with losing her father so recently, but she was smiling again. And that was a start.

Things became difficult, though, when he lost his parents and sister a year later. He stopped visiting for a long while; simply because he couldn't get away from his current guardian and he would try to see Chairman Cross's Yuuki as much as possible. He had to make sure his now human sister was doing all right. It was tough, but she was proving to be very strong willed.

He hated his pure blood sometimes. People fawned needlessly over him, offering false condolences and hoping to integrate theirselves more firmly into the vampire society. And he hated them. It made him feel like he was tied by the neck because of obligations.

Kaname finally managed to slip away for a while, thanks to Takuma Ichijou, whom he'd always seen as a brother of sorts. It was strange, but the current Ichijou reminded him of the former Ichijou; Takeru, as it were. Not only because of his attitude in general, but also his appearance was very similar to his ancestor. At one point, he'd believed Takuma had been a reincarnation, but then he'd found out that beings such as theirselves didn't go through the rebirth cycle simply because of their notoriously long life span. It was a sobering thought, and one that put a bad taste in his mouth. But, he'd accept it. Nodding to the blonde, the young ancestor set off in the direction of the Higurashi shrine, ready to pay a long overdue visit.

_'It's been a little over four years,'_ the vampire thought, faintly hearing the snow crunch beneath his shoes in the late afternoon light. He avoided looking directly at the snow, if only because it blinded him momentarily when gazed at in the sun. _'I wonder if they'll remember me?'_

He stopped, following the line of stairs all the way up to the torii arch. It was starting to become harder to see, what with the trees growing so rapidly. Glancing around and, noticing the lack of people on the street, he bent his knees and shot into the air, easily covering half of the steps. Landing gently, he continued as a normal person to the top. Kaname smiled. It felt so good to be free for a little while.

When he made it to the top, he brushed his fingers across the torii arch. The magic around the shrine checked him for threats and proceeded to give him a warning zap if he tried to mess with the family under its' protection. It left him breathless from the display of power.

_'So protective. Although, I assume these grounds understand that I wish for the same thing,' _Kaname thought, smirking in amusement and striding across the well-kept grounds. Everything was so light here, as though he was in an entirely different world.

Compared to where he was currently living, it was.

Nodding to himself, he stepped around the corner and headed to the house. He got to the door, raised his fist to knock, then stopped himself. What if they didn't remember him? What if he came at a bad time? What if-!

The young ancestor shook his head. There was no point in what ifs if he just stood out here thinking about them. He needed to see his Kagome. With that thought firmly in place, he knocked lightly on the wood.

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_5 Years Later_

Kaname Kuran breathed a sigh of relief as he left Cross Academy. He loved it there, but sometimes, his duties were so stifling. The only reprieve he'd gotten was when he took some time during the holiday break to try and visit the Higurashi shrine again. He'd been disappointed, though, to find Kagome not there. Apparently, she was out spending some long overdue time with her friends. It was a good thing, but he'd really hoped to see her. A lot would have changed in five years and he wanted to know if she looked the same as she did in his long ago memories. If she did... then it was time.

It was part of the reason that he was coming out to the shrine again to see the human family that had taken him in with open arms after the loss of his own. He'd thanked them for that immensely. It was exactly what he'd needed to keep himself sane.

He truly adored the Higurashi family. Grandpa was a funny man that told immensely entertaining stories about the Feudal Era.

Nazuna was a quiet, loving woman that never hesitated in giving someone a smile. It really could brighten up anyone's day. Or night, in his case.

Souta was an energetic boy that was a little bit of a contradiction. He was outgoing, but shy. He was loud, and yet soft-spoken at times. And he loved his sister, but also love to pick on her more than anything.

Kagome, was just Kagome. Sweet, with a temper that he hadn't realized she was capable of. She was incredibly stubborn, but fiercely loyal to a fault. Every word that seemed to come out of her mouth was cute, in his opinion. It made his heart beat faster whenever she smiled at him. He'd really fallen hard for the little human girl. And she had only been ten, at that point.

Then again, his memories of her had been a key player in his developing feelings for the girl. He wagered that he probably loved Kagome as much as Yuuki now. He still wanted the two girls to meet. Even as a human, Yuuki would take an instant liking to **his** chosen one.

The vampire turned the corner and took the street that would lead him to the steps of the shrine. Gazing up, he smirked at the trees now concealing the torii arch. Had it really been that long? He couldn't believe it! Because of the humans puttering around on the street, he took his time going up the stairs. At first, things seemed to be fine, but then he started paying a little more attention when he'd nearly tripped over a loose stone.

Glancing around, he took careful note that the steps hadn't been swept in... a while.

_'Strange. I always remembered them being so clean,' _Kaname thought, skirting around a crumbling step before continuing on. He'd let them know of that particular repair. The last thing he wanted was for his human's family to be sued for neglect.

Half-way up, though, he started noticing other things that had him worrying. Several lights had been blown out, the glass littering the sides and crunching under his feet. Weeds were growing wildly and beginning to conceal the steps. His heart beating faster, he began to ascend the stairs much more quickly. Something was very wrong.

He needed to see the Higurashi family, if only to make sure they were okay.

_'They __**must**__ be okay! I won't lose-!'_

He stopped, unable to look away from the destruction surrounding him. The torii arch was mostly burned, the spark of magic that had always checked and shocked him minutely missing. Fingertips grazing the burnt wood, the former ancestor grit his teeth and stepped into what was once beautiful shrine grounds.

Nothing was recognizable. The roof of the shrine had caved in from several weak support beams and fierce burns. The grass was tall now, but sparse and brown from lack of care. It came up to his waist easily. The stone walkway was upturned and crushed. The small house-

Was gone; completely burned to the ground. Even that odd little shack that his Kagome had been forbidden to enter was gone, the remnants of what looked like an old well charred and broken on the inside.

"What... happened?" The wind only answered him, blowing eerily around him. Walking around, he carefully avoided touching anything and made his way to the old Sacred Tree. The old cherry tree didn't even escape from what must have been a terrible fire. Many of its grand branches littered the area, its mighty trunk looking charred and deformed from the loss of its rich bark. Kaname ran a hand across an old wound on its front, now faded from age and incliment weather.

Something behind it caught his sharp eyes and he moved around to see what it was. He wished he hadn't. Four stone markers rested against the back of the tree, and with bated breath, the vampire kneeled down to read them.

Nazuna Higurashi

Jiroubo Higurashi

Souta Higurashi

The last one was unmarked, but he was almost certain to whom it belonged to.

Kagome.

_'They're... gone.'_ How had so much happened in only a few months of time? How had this entire family been wiped out when they'd been perfectly healthy? He'd only seen them last fall, and everything was as it should have been.

How had he lost his chance again?

_'She was only fifteen. How could someone so bright only be allowed to live so shortly?'_

He wasn't sure how long he knelt there, tracing the unmarked stone and lost in happy memories. Why hadn't he been there? The one person that he cared about as much as his little sister was too far to reach again. And this time, it wasn't his doing, but the hand of death.

"Fate... is so cruel. You've slipped from my grasp once again, my little priestess." His fingers brushed over the unmarked stone one last time before he rose. He couldn't stay here. It was... far too painful.

Turning, the Kuran heir swept elegantly from the shrine, and the resting place of the human that had come to mean far too much to him. His chance had come and gone again.

Now, he would wait again. There was, after all, his little sister to contend with.

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_2 Years Later_

Kagome Higurashi yawned quietly and continued on her way back to the manor. It would be in her best interest to not be late.

_'I swear, Sesshomaru is such a slave driver sometimes,' _she thought, blue eyes lazily taking in her surroundings. She had nothing to fear; after all, she was in the current Taiyoukai's territory. Hell, she practically belonged to him.

_'I own him a lot though. If it hadn't been for him, I'd be dead right now.'_ Thinking back on those memories was... painful. It still hurt to realize that everything she held dear was taken from her two years ago.

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

_She felt herself falling, diving deeper into the time portal of the old well. She'd never traveled this long in the rip. Looking around, she took careful note of the way the stars and lights around her were slowly beginning to dim. Did that mean the portal was closing? _

_"But I'm still inside!" Kagome yelled, whipping around and watching in horror as, one by one, the lights faded then disappeared. Until only one remained. She had to get to that light! Instinctively, she knew it would lead her home to her time._

_Reaching out, she grasped onto the star and held it close. Then, the ground suddenly came up to meet her and she hit the floor of the well hard. _

_She blacked out from the pain. _

_:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:_

_'My head hurts. What happened? Where... am I?' were Kagome's first thoughts when she woke up. Then the sharp smell of something burning met her nose and she coughed. Why was there so much smoke in the air?_

_What was going on? _

_Pushing herself to her feet, she ignored the dizzy feeling of being deprived decent air and started climbing up the ladder quickly. Something was very wrong. _

_When she got to the top and out of the wellhouse, she knew she'd been right. _

_"F-f-fire?" The entire shrine was ablaze, bright and bold orange against the night sky. Where was her family? What happened to them? Why wasn't there a fire truck here yet?_

_"Mama! Grandpa!" She felt herself running towards their house. Turning the corner, the priestess choked back a sob. The house was on fire too! And it looked worse for the wear than even the shrine! _

_"Mama!" Kagome choked on the smoky air, tears streaming from her eyes as she stumbled towards the burning building. "Souta!" _

_"Tsk, tsk. Looks like I missed one," a deep voice behind her muttered. It was strange that she could hear him above the sound of the fire and the beating of her overly loud heart, "No matter. Things did not work out the way I needed them to." _

_Someone grabbed her arm and swung her around. _

_"Ma-!" And then, unbelievable pain hit her. She gasped and tried to squirm away, but it only made the agony worse. Someone was screaming. She really wanted them to stop. The priestess looked down when she felt somthing wet hit her shoes and noticed the hand buried deep inside her. _

_Oh. Was that... her? Screaming? She couldn't tell. She was... bleeding... A lot. It hurt. _

_"It's such a shame. I'm not sure how I missed you. After all, I was supposed to kill everyone in this family before I did the resurrection. You're such a pretty little human," the male cooed, stroking her hair gently and not minding in the least when she choked up blood onto his shirt. _

_'He needs to clean that, or it'll stain.' She heard part of the roof of the shrine collapse and felt his clawed fingers twitch as they left the hole in her stomach. That was painful too. The priestess vaguely heard herself gasp and slump against him. _

_'He tried to kill me!' she thought, not really reigstering that it was becoming harder to move; harder to breath. Harder to... think. _

_'He's... he's...' _

_"Wh... at..." _

_"Now look at what you've done, girl. You got blood on my shirt." Carelessly, he stepped away, and Kagome's body dropped to the ground like a heavy stone, "It doesn't really matter, though. You won't live long enough to repay me." _

_She tried to turn, found that her arms wouldn't work, then gave up. Numbness was seeping into her conciousness and she wondered at why this man was doing this. He knelt down and carressed her cheek tenderly. _

_"Such pretty blue eyes." She noticed his were different colors. One was blue and the other was a red she'd only seen Naraku wear. His aura had a dark menacing feeling to it. Was he a demon? No! He felt... different than that. She couldn't place it, but felt that she should have __**known**__. Dark brown eyes flashed through her mind before disappearing. _

_'Who...'_

_Did he want the Jewel? But that was gone! She had made sure of it! Her wish- _

_She felt something pulse deep inside her and knew immediately that the cursed artifact wasn't as gone as they had all thought. Knew that, somehow, it wouldn't let her die so easily. The jewel would find a way to keep her around. _

_And she hated that. Why couldn't it just let her die in peace? _

_"Good night, little human. Maybe in your next life, you will be a little more lucky." He walked away against the blazing background of her burning home, his aura still screaming at her to recognize it. _

_Her world faded to black again. But this time, she knew she wouldn't be waking up. _

_'Please... just let this all be a bad dream.'_

_:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:_

_Someone was calling for her. Pleading with her to wake up. She didn't want to. Here, nothing could hurt her. Here, she could rest and not worry about atrange auras or jewels that stole her happiness away. _

_Here, no one could touch her. _

_How wrong she was. _

_:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:_

_The blade gleamed in the firelight and slashed down again into the frail human girl. Again, she didn't respond. _

_"Son of a bitch! Hurry!" The red-head snarled, shaking the girl gently. He couldn't lose her. Not now. _

_"I'm trying, fool!" the other snapped, glaring cold golden eyes at the younger one. He'd never felt so angry, so... helpless in his entire existence. They heard sirens wailing in the background and knew that they were running out of time. _

_"Priestess! You __**will**__ wake up!" His blade shook and pulsed, the servants of the underworld appearing again to try and shackle the girl's soul to send it on its way. _

_"You __**will not**__ defy me!" The glowing fang cut through the chains and the creatures, and his soul reached out to hers to pull it back to where it belonged. _

-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-

Waking up had been incredibly painful. She'd later found out that Sesshomaru and Shippo had come to check on her and her family. Both had been on different continents and both had felt a terrible disturbance in the air. It had taken a lot of convincing, and some incredible willpower on Sesshomaru's part, but the Tenseiga had let its master to bring her back to life. They had then tried to save her family, but the finicky blade wouldn't allow it.

Kagome had mourned their loss and nearly starved herself from the tragedy. She knew exactly why she'd been saved. The Shikon no Tama would protect its guardian. Even if it meant using others to do so.

Shaking her head to filter out the ache those memories induced deep in her heart, the priestess picked up her pace again and turned the corner. The manor suddenly loomed over her, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

She was home.

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A/N: Revision finished.

Please stay tuned! And thank you once again for your patience and support!

Revision (April 22 2011)


	3. Healing the Heartache

A/N: Now that I'm at this point in the revision, I have broken up these chapters into better bits.

Again, I thank you all for your patience, as this was a major bitch for me to get together. Please review, and hang on to your hats!

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She sighed quietly as her gaze swept the quiet plaza. There was nothing to do in this town at night. At least, not if she didn't want to attract attention to herself. Kagome Higurashi muttered under her breath and swung her legs around to the floor. She loved this window seat, but she was getting tired of sitting around and doing nothing!

_'He'd better call soon! I'm getting sick of waiting!'_ the priestess thought, padding over to her unlit bathroom and gazing into the darkened mirror.

She could see everything perfectly. Despite the fact that she was human. And she hated it.

_'I have Sesshomaru to thank for that, too.'_ Though the taiyoukai had brought her back to life, her injuries had been critical at best. He'd given her his blood, which had tasted like pure acid, in hopes that the healing properties that demons were capable of would be passed on to her.

Lucky for them all, they had. It was strange that her own priestess blood hadn't purified it, but then, Kagome had also blamed the jewel for that turn of events. As a result, her senses had been heightened dramatically. Her balanced had improved, her reflexes were sharper, and her healing had improved exponentially. They still wondered if this meant her lifespan had been lengthened as well; but hadn't really wanted to test those waters.

There was also the fact that she was no longer able to purify Sesshomaru. Accidentally or on purpose. Something about a "connection" being forged.

She was human, but not human. There was no way to really describe it. Not without inducing an amazing migraine.

He'd thusly began to teach her everything she needed to know about her new abilities; from combat to dulling her sense of smell when neccesary. It was... weird; Sesshomaru was being helpful. When asked about it, the dog demon had replied in his customary fashion.

_"I do not wish for you to waste your life so recklessly, priestess." _

"Yeah, well I'm wasting it here not doing anything, jerk," Kagome sighed, twirling around her hotel room and flopping gracelessly onto her bed. It was comfy, and she was definitely sleepy, but her mind was still racing. Why had the old dog sent her way out here? What was brewing that needed watching so closely? How come she wasn't allowed to go out at night without some kind of weapon?

And **why** was Koga so royally pissed off about it?

Sure, the wolf prince had always been protective of her. And sure, he tended to overreact where she was concerned. But he'd been chomping at the bit to go at Sesshomaru when he'd announced where he was sending her. Souten, whom had grown up still enarmored with Shippo, had escorted her out of the room filled with overwhelming testoterone. But not before the priestess had caught Koga shout at the dog demon about "sending her into the **bloodsucker's** territory."

"What did he mean by that?" Kagome wondered out loud, rolling to her side to stare at the alarm clock on the table next to her.

10:47 pm.

It was really starting to get late. And she still couldn't calm down enough to try and sleep! Popping up from the bed, she snatched her jacket and started out the door, making sure to have her phone on her. If she didn't answer it, the taiyoukai would give her hell when she called back.

"I'm going out!" Shutting the door, she jogged down the hall and practically sprinted down the stairs. She almost made it past the front clerk before he stopped her.

"You're going out? This late at night?" She stopped, glancing at the worried older man. He seemed nice.

"I can't sleep. I'm just going down the street to grab some tea," she replied, grinning awkwardly when he glanced outside, then back at her.

"Just... be careful, young lady. There's things out there that are... weird."

"Ummm... okay. I'll be careful." With that, Kagome spun around and bounced out the door, happy to be doing something for herself for a change. For two years, everything she'd accomplished was for Sesshomaru's sake. But now, the priestess would live a little.

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Takuma Ichijou smiled happily and thanked the waitress that brought him their tea. She stuttered an affirmative and scrambled away with a blush on her face.

"You know she's stalking you, right?" Senri Shiki sighed, blowing on his drink lightly and taking a sip. Damn, but he really didn't like tea. There was no... flavor!

"Yes, but it doesn't hurt to be nice either," Ichijou replied, shrugging at the blank look the red-head sent him. Humming quietly, he vaguely took note of the bell ringing and the girl that walked in.

Black hair. Blue eyes. Sunny smile. She was cute. For a human.

"She's cute." Apparently, Shiki noticed her too, "For a human."

"True. But we all know how that would turn out," Ichijou replied, grinning in self-mockery.

"So, why are we here again?"

"My treat for tonight. After all, it's really our job to keep those... others in line," the blonde vampire sighed, shaking his head and draining his tea.

"... I hate tea," his companion argued, gulping the hot drink quickly and plunking down a few bills. Ichijou shook his head, shoved the change back at the red-head, and set his own down. Rising, he turned to grab his coat-

And slammed into a warm soft body, spilling what he could smell to be chamomille tea everywhere.

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Kagome wanted to scream in frustration. The fact that she was drenched in her tea was one thing. But the other fact that she'd actually **run into** someone was something she hadn't done in two years!

"Ah! Miss, I am so sorry! Are you hurt? Burnt? Please tell me you're okay!" the guy babbled, brushing her wet bangs out of her face to get a good look at her. The priestess felt something... off about him, and stepped away quickly-

Only to bump into someone else!

"Ah! Sorry!" Kagome squeaked, backing away from the red-head in embarrassment. She stepped into the other guy behind her.

"It's fine. You're covered in tea, though," the red-head replied blankly tilting his head to the side in what was meant to be an innocent fashion. Kagome blinked, averting her eyes when she felt a strange pull from the male in front of her. She felt like... if she wasn't ready, she'd get lost in his eyes.

The priestess blinked. Where... had she gotten that feeling from before?

"Y-yeah. I... noticed that," she replied quietly, glancing back at the other male. The blonde smiled awkwardly and handed her a couple of napkins, which she took thankfully.

"I apologize again, miss. I'm usually not so clumsy," the blonde sighed, running a hand through his hair in a careless fashion. Her senses took careful note of both of their auras, and though they were dark, they felt peaceful.

She decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm okay. It's just tea," Kagome finally said, wiping the fragrant droplets off of her face and looking down at her shoes. At least they weren't ruined, "It's probably my fault anyway. I'm a major klutz sometimes." Setting the used ones down, she reached for the other ones that the blonde held out for her.

"Still, if anything is ruined, I'll be more than happy to replace it," he countered gently, taking a couple of napkins and patting the top of her head dry. Kagome snapped her gaze up, blue locking with green in a staring contest.

_'Funny. I thought his eyes would be brown,'_ the priestess thought faintly, wondering why it was her initial reaction to smile at him.

"Do... Do I... know you?" the dark-haired girl asked, almost afraid of what his answer would be. His brows furrowed in concern and he shook his head. She felt... defeated, for some reason.

"Oh... I... You look like..." Kagome trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence; simply because she **wasn't** sure if she knew him or not. "... Ta... ke... ru."

His green eyes, which had been wandering over her to check for injuries, snapped back to her in shock.

"What... did you say?" She tried to back away, but he caught her wrist in a strong grip and pulled her to him.

"N-Nothing!"

"No! You said a name!"

"I... I don't know," the priestess pleaded, pulling hard on her captured arm. She didn't budge, and now she was becoming really worried. The only possibility was that these two boys were...

_'Demons? But... it doesn't feel right!'_ Mismatched eyes flashed through her mind. Their auras felt very similar to **that one**. The only difference was the lack of killing intent. _'They're something else. But what?'_

"Please, I'm not going to hurt you," the blonde countered gently, placing a hand on her cheek. She felt her face heat from the contact. What was this inhumanly handsome boy doing to her? "I just want to know how you know that name?"

"I... I don't know. Maybe I read it in a book somewhere?" she answered, sounding unsure of it herself.

_'Someone has tampered with this girl's memories,'_ Ichijou thought, narrowing his eyes sharply and glancing at Shiki. The red-head nodded; he could feel it also.

The blonde could only hope that it wasn't his grandfather that had done the deed. It was the only way that she'd know about the ancestor that he so eerily resembled.

"I... I see." Though he really didn't. After all, his ancestor's name wasn't in some random book. All of those were safely tucked away in the Ichijou Family's library back home. There had to be some kind of connection.

"Sorry I can't... be of more help," the girl quietly replied, cowed by his display of strength earlier. He abruptly dropped her wrist and winced at the red marks he would leave.

"It's not your fault! I apologize deeply for all the trouble I've caused you this evening, Miss..."

"Kagome. My name's Kagome Higurashi." Ichijou nodded, then swept her wet coat off of her, only to replace it with his own chivalrously.

"I'm Takuma Ichijou. This," he nodded to the quiet red-head behind them, "is Senri Shiki. Since we've ruined your clothes, we'll take you to get new ones!"

"W-Wait! Now?"

"Of course!" The blonde smiled happily, patting her head in an afffectionate way, and sweeping her protesting form out the door. Shiki blinked languidly and sighed, following the human and vampire out the door.

"I didn't do anything. Why do I have to be stuck with you?"

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Nearly two hours, several jealous girls, and a new outfit later, Ichijou and Shiki were happily depositing her back at her hotel with promises to come visit her again when they got the time in between school days. She'd quickly found out that the two inhuman boys were currently enrolled at the famous Cross Academy, and were in the elite Night Class. Despite not being in school for so long, even she had heard of how hard and expensive it was to get into **that** school.

In the end, it had been the evil stares of the sales girls that had gotten the priestess to open up a little to the two boys. She really didn't want to deal with the envious petty games, but with the subtle threatening aura of one particular girl, she'd easily clung to her two "boyfriends". It had been fun, though, when Shiki and Ichijou had joined in on the charade, lavishing attention on her needlessly as she modelled several outfits for them.

"You guys... are really something else," Kagome giggled, nudging the quieter of the two boys with an elbow. Shiki sighed in long-suffering, but he truly didn't mind the human girl being so familiar with him. He'd actually enjoyed their little outing, and he was hoping to introduce Rima to Kagome. They'd get along instantly, he was sure.

"It has been a pleasure getting to know you, Miss Kagome," Ichijou replied, bowing extravegantly to her as he opened the door to the hotel for her. She laughed loudly and waltzed in, not caring in the least that she'd attracted the attention of the front clerk. She was truly happy, for once, and that was so rare for her nowadays.

"I'm really glad that I've met you two. It's so... lonely... being in a town I don't know by myself," she replied, scuffing her foot shyly against the floor. Ichijou suppressed the urge to just outright hug the girl. She'd seemed so alone when they'd first started talking. Now, though, her attitude had lifted and changed to something brighter and more... sparkly. Kagome seemed like the type of person that was supposed to be happy, and that's how he wanted her to stay. It might have worked in her favor a little that she was such a pretty human too.

Ichijou quickly stuffed those particular ideas in a closet somewhere deep in his mind. He wasn't going to think about things like that right now.

"Well, we're not far. So we'll be by soon," the blonde vampire replied, patting her gently on he head in a childish way. He gulped in shock when she outright hugged him, smiling innocently the whole time. She had no idea how good she smelled.

"Thank you... both of you," she muttered, moving to give Shiki the same treatment. Judging by the way the red-head stiffened just slightly, the priestess was having the same affect on him too.

"You're... welcome, Kagome-san," the other vampire replied, giving in and hugging her gently back. She was the type of human to be treated kindly and with respect. He'd always wondered that if he'd had a sibling, would that feeling of protectiveness be like the ones that were quickly surfacing for the small human? He wasn't sure, and he was a little afraid of finding out.

Waving goodbye, she bounced over to the clerk, whom admonished her in a fatherly fashion. Blushing slightly and laughing genially, she said farewell and turned the corner to go upstairs to her hotel room.

Maybe... Ichijou shook his head. He wouldn't think like that. Not when he only barely had the girl's friendship. He'd wait and see how some things turned out first. Like the fact that she apparently knew about his ancestor, yet didn't know from where she got the information.

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Kagome felt a buzzing sensation against her side almost two days later, and she whipped the cell phone out of her coat pocket. The name on the front made her sigh in relief and she flipped it open to answer it.

"It's about time you called."

_'You are still far too impatient, priestess,"_ the person on the other line sighed, almost used to the conversation starter.

"Okay, seriously, Sesshomaru. Why am I out here?" she hissed, avoiding running into several people that were congealed around a street vendor.

_'Your assignment is to take out the former humans wreaking havoc in that town,"_ Sesshomaru cut to the chase and didn't bother to mince his words. Kagome stopped, brows furrowed in confusion.

"What do you mean 'former humans'?"

_"Exactly what I said. They were once humans, but now, they feed on other humans to keep theirselves alive. Have you not heard of the legends, priestess?"_

"What legends? I don't understand!" she hissed, glaring angrily at her phone and wishing it was the taiyoukai.

_'The stories about those who were born of the night. The inhuman race that takes human blood in order to survive,"_ the silver-haired dog explained in his usual elegant fashion, _"Vampires, priestess."_

Kagome sucked in a breath, almost dropping her cell phone in shock. Her mind was bombarded with several images. None of which made any sense. A tall, dark-haired male with crimson eyes. A blonde man that looked eerily similar to the Ichijou guy that she'd met the other day. Mismatched eyes laughing at her as she drowned in the smell and taste of her own blood-

_"Kagome!"_

"I... I'm okay," she choked out, leaning against the nearest wall and sliding down to the ground, "I'm okay. I'm okay." She hid her face in her knees to try and block out the horrible feeling of letting her family down.

_"... I'll come get you. It's too soon for you to deal with those creatures,"_ Sesshomaru made a sudden about-face in attitude, worry lining his demon features as he rose from his chair,_ "I'll be there later tonight."_

"No! I..." Kagome snapped, taking several deep breaths before looking up at the evening sky, "I'm okay, nii-sama." His golden eyes narrowed sharply. Kagome only ever called him that when she was afraid or upset. It was hard to determine which she was currently, though.

_"... I will send the fox to check on your progress in two weeks, then,"_ he finally decided, sitting back down and firming his resolve. Against his better judgement, he would allow her to work through her fears on her own.

"Okay. I haven't seen Shippo in a while; so that's fine."

"... Kagome."

"Hmm?"

_"We've been looking into things..."_ he started, hoping this bit of information would steel her resolve for the test she was about to embark on.

Kagome perked up, blue eyes narrowing in determination, "Did you find something, Lord Sesshomaru?"

_"The only vampires you must worry about are the Purebloods. Their bite will change a human into one of their own. You will then become like a slave to their will, if you do not take their blood. Most of them are peaceful, though, and they will not interefere in your work. The one that took your family... was a Pureblood."_

"... Give me a name, Sesshomaru," the priestess hissed, anger making her aura spike dangerously and her eyes unknowingly glow with purification. Vaguely, she noticed that her hands were glimmering pink.

_"... Rido Kuran."_

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"Hey!"

Kagome stopped, glancing around then at the front clerk. Pointing to herself, she asked, "Me?"

"Yeah," he looked her over for a second and nodded to himself, "You had some visitors."

"I did?"

"Yep, but they seemed a little suspicious, so I told them you weren't here right now," the clerk scratched the side of him head, narrowing his dark eyes at the priestess, "A blonde guy and his friend. He seemed eager to meet you."

"Oh! That sounds like Ichijou-san!" Kagome exclaimed, striding over to the desk to lean on it, "Was the other guy a red-head. Blue eyes?"

"No. Some tall dark-haired guy. Brown eyes; though they looked kinda reddish. It was weird. That one looked... agitated."

"Hmmm... Nope. I don't know anyone like that."

"Well, you shouldn't attract strangers around here, girl." The clerk gae her an admonishing look that had her blushing in self reprimand.

"I'll be more careful, sir. Thank you for your concern," Kagome replied, bowing politely and sweeping out the door. Tonight, she was supposed to begin her hunt.

And maybe she could get some more information on this Rido Kuran, if she got lucky.

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Several hours later saw her wandering around the deserted streets in the middle of the night. Things were not going well for her. If she thought this former human would make things easy for her, then she was dead wrong. The priestess snorted inelegantly at the bad pun. A cooing noise, though, made her glance up in alarm, then relax only minutely.

Kagome sighed and lifted her hand to let the creature rest on it. She hated the soul snatchers, but for some reason, they followed and listened to her. They made useful information gatherers, when they weren't consuming and stealing the souls of young women.

_'Probably something to do with being Kikyo's reincarnation. They spent a lot of time with her, after all,'_ the priestess thought, brushing the soul it was holding away to move on to the afterlife. It didn't appreciate her interference but remained docile in her grasp.

"What have you found out, then?" The snatcher cooed at her in its strange language and she nodded in agreement.

"That's the best place to start. Thank you." It did a little bob, then twirled and floated away. Probably to snatch another wayward soul to devour. She really didn't like that, but there was little she could do about them at this point. Her hands were too tied. Besides, soul snatchers were the least of her worries right now. Finding this vampire that feasted on humans was was a little more important than liberating the dead right now. She'd let the death gods handle that front.

Stalking around the corner, she failed to notice the clawed hands reaching out for her from the shadows. Her senses alerted her far too late. Kagome shrieked in surprise as she was pulled into the shadows, dark laughter filling the air around her.

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Yuuki muttered under her breath and continued on her way back to the academy late in the afternoon. Honestly, Zero could be so fickle at times! He was so-!

_'What... is that?'_ the Day Class girl thought, glancing back into the shadows of the alley she'd just passed. It looked like...

_'It looks like a girl!'_ Yuuki's heart stuttered in fear and she raced to see what was going on. The girl seemed to be unconscious. And... covered in blood. And ashes?

"She's been bitten! Please don't be dead!" the brunette muttered, shock making her body go numb and shake at the same time. Reaching out a hand, she gently shook the dark-haired girl's shoulder.

"Hey! Wake up!" A groan issued from the girl's mouth and she slumped over into the Prefect. Yuuki breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was alive. But now that she knew that, she needed to help her.

"It's at a time like this that I wish Zero wouldn't just run off," Yuuki growled, pulling the girl half-way onto her back and staggering out of the alley. Luckily, there wasn't anyone around to see her carrying the bloody girl down the next couple of streets. Or trip when the girl's sword caught into several cracks in the cobblestone. Eventually, though, her weight became too much and the brunette stumbled into the nearest wall.

Panting, Yuuki knelt down and propped the girl against the wall.

_'Zero. Where are you?'_ As if summoned by the thought alone, the Day Class boy suddenly appeared, wide-eyed and panting for air.

"Yuu-!"

"There's no time to talk! We have to help her!" the Day Class girl interrupted, striding over to the silver-haired boy and taking his sleeve. His fingers, she noticed, shook in fear.

"You're... covered in blood!" Zero choked out, attempting to back away from the girl. His vampire instincts were kicking into overdrive at the delicious smell. Yuuki glanced down at herself and suppressed a groan.

"It's not mine. This girl," she pointed to the dark-haired girl, "was bitten by a vampire. Probably a Level E. She needs help now if we want to save her! Please, Zero!"

Yuuki watched her friend close his eyes, take a deep breath through his mouth, then open them again. His gaze was steeled in resolve and he nodded.

"Okay. Let's get her back to the academy." He brushed past Yuuki and knelt down next to the unconscious female. Though there was blood on her, it was old and coppery, instead of the bright crimson color of fresh blood. Her wound seemed to have clotted, the bleeding temporarily stopped. But it still looked jagged, and not the kind that normally came from a vampire.

_'Could she have been attacked by something else?'_ Gingerly, Zero scooped the dark-haired girl up and turned to sprint back to the academy, Yuuki hot on his heels. If they were going to save her, they had to hurry.

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"I'll go get the Chairman! You get her to the infirmary, Zero!" Yuuki stuttered, turning a corner as fast as she could without falling and leaving her fellow Day Class student in the dust, protesting heatedly.

"Wait! Yuuki! She's bleeding too much!" He struggled to keep his instincts at bay. Glancing in the mirror he passed, he noted that his eyes were already a bright crimson; a sure sign that the beast inside was quickly taking control of him.

Zero slumped against the next wall, sliding down to sit on the floor with the nearly dead human girl in his arms. The blood was becoming too much for him. He had to get away from her! Otherwise...

_'I can't bite her! She's dying and here I am thinking about trying to take her blood!'_ He was at a horrible impasse. The hunter had to resist the siren's call of her blood. Lifting his hand, he started to run it through his hair, but stopped at the sight of the bright red on his palm. His arm shook.

"Shit!"

"Hey."

He looked down, shocked that she was even awake. Blue eyes bore into his red ones and he swore he could feel her probing into his soul.

"You'll be... okay."

"I'm... I'm not the one bleeding everywhere," Zero hissed, struggling to control himself.

"I know. But... Maybe I can fix... you," she replied, breathing shallowly and raising a shaking hand to him. She placed it on his neck; the same spot that Shizuka had bitten him. Sucking in a breath, he watched in awe as she summoned up a light.

"This might hurt." And then she pushed.

Zero screamed.

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Every eye in the Moon Dorm swivelled in the direction of the Chairman's private offices. They were all a little antsy. After all, the scent of real blood was in the air. And to them, it was a divine smell.

"That sounded like... Kiryuu," Hanabusa Aidou muttered, grinning gleefully at the thought of the arrogant Prefect being injured.

"Hopefully he's all right," Ichijou sighed, blinking when several eyes focused on him, "... What?"

"You're too soft," Rima Touya replied quietly, handing another stick of pocky to Shiki.

Kaname Kuran remained rooted to his chair. That particular blood scent was very familiar to him. But then... how was that even possible, when the person that owned that scent was dead?

Maybe... he'd misread something?

His curiosity piqued, the Kuran heir would begin a whole new investigation.

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When Chairman Kaien Cross heard that scream, he literally jumped a foot in the air and did an abrupt about-face. He knew that voice anywhere.

"Zero! What's happened?" The blonde male took off in a sprint down the hall, turning corners rapidly and relying solely on his keen hunter senses. A minute later, he was joined by Toga Yagari.

"That sounded like Zero, Cross! What the hell is going on?" the hunter snapped, stopping his companion abruptly before they ran into Yuuki.

"Yuuki? What-!"

"There's no time to explain. Zero and I found a girl in town! There's blood everywhere!" Whipping around, the Day Class girl prepared to return to her friend, but a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Yuuki," Kaien said, pulling the girl back, "I want you to go to the Night Dorms and make sure my little vampires are okay. Yagari-sensei and I will take care of Zero and this young lady the two of you so admirably rescued."

"But-!" she stopped, glancing at Yagari, who was absently polishing his shotgun on his sleeve, then gulped, "I... can help."

"Please, Yuuki. At least let them know everything is all right. And tell Kaname that there's no need to worry. We have everything taken care of. Classes will be cancelled for them tonight." With that, the two older men darted off in search of Zero and this mysterious girl.

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"... And so, the Chairman wants to let you guys know that class has been cancelled for the night," Yuuki finally narrated, taking a deep breath and letting it out quietly. Glancing around, she noticed that the Night Class was paying a little more attention to her than normal.

"Hey, Yuuki. That blood on your shirt? That's not yours," Aidou pointed out bluntly, making the girl gasp and glance down at her uniform. The black color had hidden the stain on her front, but now that it had dried, she could definitely tell that it was there.

"Umm... I-I... I have to go! Gotta patrol and... and stuff!" With that, the Day Class girl bowed quickly and shot out the door. It left the vampires in a state of agitation that was worse than before.

Because for once, the Day Class Prefect hadn't said a word to their leader. And he didn't seem to mind nearly as much as they all thought he would.

Just what the hell was going on around here?

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When Chairman Cross and the hunter Yagari got to the scene, they expected the worst case scenario. What they got, was something completely unexpected. Instead of seeing his almost son on a rampage against a nearly dead human girl, he was sitting there quietly, slumped against the wall, and cradling her to him carefully. As though she were porcelain.

"Zero? You need to let go of her. We can't help her unless-!"

"It's okay, Chairman," the silver-haired boy interrupted, raising his head to gaze at the blonde man with clear gray eyes. He then turned his attention to his former teacher, who had his gun coked back and was ready to shoot him.

"She... she did something, and it made the hunger go away."

"What?" Yagari snapped, holstering his weapon and striding over to his subdued student. He seemed... calm, but afraid; as though he were a child again. It only slightly terrified him at how worried the Kiryuu boy looked.

"I... I don't know what she did. But her hand was glowing, and then everything hurt," Zero glanced back down at the unconscious girl, pulling her closer when his master reached a hand out to get a closer look at her, "I thought I'd died. Then, I was suddenly warm all over. I felt... normal. Like I was before... **Her**."

Kaien observed his student intently as he tried to shy the girl away form his former master's touch, almost as though... he was trying to protect her.

"Well-!" Yagari was interrupted. He hated when that happened.

"Zero, as much as we need to know what happened, that girl's life is slipping away the longer we delay here. Let Yagari take her to the infirmary, and we'll get her patched up," Kaien soothed, apporaching the wary teen and brushing his silver hair back into some semblance of neatness. Zero seemed to debate for a moment, then finally nodded slowly as he released the near death grip he had on Kagome.

"I want to see her as soon as she wakes up," the teen replied, rising quickly and following the two adults as Yagari carried the girl that had literally saved him from inhumanity to the hospital ward.

"I think that would be fine," Kaien agreed, smiling genially and gathering the weapon the girl had apparently been carrying. How was she able to lug such a sword around without it being noticed?

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Her world was falling. She could hear vague noises around her, but the pain that she was in trumped any possible desire to hear what they were saying. How could she have been so **stupid** when she'd decided to save that boy. But the darkness inside of him was slowly overcoming that small light that continued to flicker feebly in his heart. She wanted to light to win. And so, she'd used the last of her energy to give it a little boost.

She hadn't meant to purify him. But then, maybe that was for the best. Despite the fact that her and Fate didn't seem to mix well, she'd felt that she was meant to help that silver-haired boy with anguished eyes that reminded her so much of herself.

Kagome hadn't really realized how much she'd just changed one Zero Kiryuu's life.

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A/N: Annnd that's all for now folks! Doubtless this leaves you with more questions than answers now. I'll try to answer them without giving my plot away. Anyways, kindly leave a review to help support me in my madness.

And yes, Kagome did purify the vampire inside of Zero, making him human again. Because he still retained some of his humanity, it was basically like purifying a hanyou and leaving it completely human.

This is also set shortly after Shizuka's death and right before a bunch of people leave for their break/vacation thing right before the start of Guilty.

Thanks you guys!

Revision (April 22 2011)


	4. Sunswept Sorrows

A/N: And now, without further ado, I give what you all have been waiting for...

The next chapter.

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When Kagome Higurashi came to, she was lying on a sterile white bed in a medical ward. It honestly scared the crap out of her, because the last time she'd been in a hospital type setting had been...

_'Shortly after Sesshomaru brought me back,'_ the priestess thought, gulping audibly and holding back the urge to cry. She hadn't done that since shortly before she'd lost her family. And she wouldn't do it until she finished what she'd started.

"Oh, good. You're awake!" A voice brought her out of her musings and she turned her head to the speaker. A man with long blonde hair smiled kindly down at her and pushed her sweaty bangs back. It was at that moment that she felt like she hadn't had a bath in a while. Not to mention the vaguely disgusting smell coming off of her.

"I... Where am I?" Kagome asked, shifting and trying to sit up. Her right shoulder immediately exploded in pain, and the dark-haired girl whimpered pathetically and flopped back onto the bed.

"You shouldn't do that. You were pretty badly injured," the blonde man sighed, turning away and picking up several rolls of bandages. He came back and sat down on the edge of the bed, "You're very lucky to be alive, young lady. Whoever attacked you cut you pretty deeply." Kagome nodded, the events of the other night slowly filtering into her head. How could she have been so careless?

"Yeah. I... I guess I am," she replied, coughing delicately and trying to get some liquid into her throat. A glass of water appeared in her line of vision and she hastily took it.

"Drink slowly." The girl nodded, and though she wanted to gulp the entire thing down as quickly as possible, she took small sips until she was satisfied. When the man set the glass aside and fixed her with a stare, she knew she wouldn't be able to lie her way out of her injuries.

"So... Are you willing to tell me how you ended up in such bad shape?" he asked, tugging loosely on his long blonde ponytail.

"I... Who are you... exactly?"

"My name is Kaien Cross. You're at Cross Academy. My adopted daughter and son, Yuuki and Zero, found you unconscious and bleeding sluggishly from that," he pointed at her shoulder, "in an alleyway in town. They were a little worried, and brought you to me to get patched up."

"I... see," Kagome muttered, thinking of how to best come up with an easy, but honest, way to answer him, "Well... thank you, Chairman Cross, for helping me when I needed it. You see... I'm a priestess. I was sent to that town to investigate some strange disappearances. I was attacked, and then I woke up here!"

"I... attacked? By what? Surely none of the Night Class?"

"Umm... No, I don't think so."

"... Tell me something, young priestess. Are you familiar with supernatural creatures." She nodded haltingly, waiting for the kicker, "Then you've heard of vampires?" Again, she nodded, this time a little more enthusiastically, "Were you attacked by one?"

"... No. I wasn't." Kaien swallowed. So, there were other things, besides vampires, that he needed to worry about now in town?

"Then... What?"

"I... It was a demon. A shadow demon," she finally replied, wincing inwardly and waiting for him to laugh at her.

"... So they do exist," the blonde man hissed softly, rising from the bed and pacing rapidly, "Is this demon still out there?"

"No sir. I purified it after it got the drop on me. Shadow demons are hard to pinpoint until they actually come out of the shadows. Then, as long as you have a good feel of their aura, you can tell right when they're about to attack and get them before they get you. It's the reason why they prefer to snatch small children at night sometimes. The children don't have the same senses as adults, and they're more likely to get caught." Taking a deep breath, she continued when he nodded, "So, I was a little preoccupied with my thoughts, and this one thought it would be cute to sneak up on me and eliminate me because I'm a natural enemy to demons in general." She **was not** going to tell this stranger that her attacker had been more interested in getting rid of her for the sole purpose of possessing the Sacred Jewel that thrummed under her ribcage near her heart.

After her painful encounter with Rido Kuran, the jewel had been activated again, vigilantly keeping it's guardian from dying several times, even though Sesshomaru's taiyoukai blood could do the trick just as well.

"That's good then. Do we need to worry about any others?"

"... I don't think so. I mean, there will always be more, but I'm pretty sure that it was the only one in the area," at the unsure look on his face she added, "Your students are safe here, Chairman. I can feel that the wards you've place in the school are very strong. Only an idiot would waltz in here to try and hurt your students."

"Well, I'd like you to stay here until you completely recover, Miss..."

"Kagome. My name is Kagome Higurashi," the priestess supplied, bowing her head slightly in respect, "And I don't want to be a burden so... As soon as I'm better, I'll get out of your hair."

"Take as much time as you need, Kagome. You're safe and sound here," Kaien smiled, smoothing down her dark hair before rising to leave her in peace, "My kids will probably want to see you. They were very worried about you." With a wave, he disappeared out of the ward, leaving Kagome in an amused state to herself.

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Kagome got quite the surprise when Ichijou and Shiki both came to visit her in the hospital ward. When asked about it, they had replied that the Chairman had informed the Night Class about a visitor staying for a little while in the ward.

"You guys are so sweet!" the priestess muttered, smiling genuinely when Ichijou ruffled her hair playfully, "But how did you know it was me?"

"We spent several hours with you, Kagome," Ichijou replied, smirking inwardly when she flushed in embarrassment. "Now, tell us how exactly you ended up in here?"

"And injured, no less," Shiki added quietly, staring at the white bandage peeking out from Kagome's loose shirt. Ichijou nodded gravely and sat down on the bed. The priestess glanced from one vampire to the other cautiously. Now that she knew what to look for, it was very obvious that the two of them were of the undead.

"Well... For starters, I know you guys aren't human." The two gorgeous males blinked slowly, both rather surprised at her reaction.

"If... you think that, then what are we?" Shiki asked bluntly, getting straight to the point. She looked him right in the eye and said without hesitation, "Vampires." He flinched just slightly, but she caught it because she'd been watching him so carefully.

"That... doesn't answer the question as to why you are here," Ichijou responded delicately, carefully watching the priestess for her reactions. His eyes widened suddenly when a thought hit him. "You weren't **attacked** by a vampire, were you?" Oh, he would **kill** the idiot that dared to go after such a sweet girl!

She shook her head rapidly, fidgeting when he pinned her with a glance. "I... no. I wasn't attacked... by a vampire."

"Then something else," Shiki quickly caught on to her meaning, itching to find out who had hurt the nice human girl. She nodded slowly this time and bit her lip, watching them through wide blue eyes that seemed... afraid?

"Kagome," Ichijou sighed, backing his aura down when the priestess looked near tears, "You can tell us."

"You don't trust us?" Shiki asked, smirking just slightly when the human girl flushed in embarrassment.

"It's not that! I trust you guys!" Kagome protested vehemently. It surprised the two boys, because no one had put their trust in them so soon after meeting them. "I'm just... I don't really know **how** to explain... Not without sounding like I'm crazy, at least."

"Umm... We're **vampires**, Kagome," Ichijou deadpanned, giving her a blank stare. She blushed and muttered under her breath about "boys" in general, before clearing her throat.

"Well... I'm... a priestess, and I was investigating something in the town when a demon snuck up on me and attacked me," Kagome explained, shortening her story to the bare minimum. She just didn't want to get into her past right now. Maybe... someday, she'd tell them. "I got rid of it, but he got me first. I guess afterwards I passed out from blood loss. The next thing I knew, I woke up here with Chairman Cross checking my temperature." She shrugged, which agitated her wound just slightly, and gave the two boys a small smile. "I'm okay now. I just need to rest and recover."

"A priestess? A **real** priestess?" Shiki asked, genuine curiosity lighting his blue eyes.

Kagome snorted, "It's not like I'm a fake priestess!" She blinked then, the color draining from her face. "Why... do I feel like I've heard that before?"

The two boys exchanged glances, then nodded minutely.

"Kagome," Ichijou started, turning the girl's attention to him, "We... think someone might have messed with your memories." At the blank look, he began to elaborate. "See, the name you called me was one of my ancestors. Ironically, I take after his looks very much, and we think that, maybe you're remembering a past life... or something."

"I... That would make a lot of sense," Kagome mumbled, absently plucking at a loose thread in her blanket.

"If you want, we could help you trigger that, so it won't bother you anymore," he continued quickly, crossing his fingers and hoping for the best. If Kagome had met his ancestor in a past life, and she remembered it, there could be a moutain full of information that he could gleen off of this.

"When... When did your ancestor live, Takuma?" she asked, blinking innocently up at him. Something deep and primal stirred inside him when her blue eyes settled on him, and he swept it away impatiently to analyze later when he had the chance. He knew he liked her, even if he'd only known her for a short time, but there were a few more important things to deal with at the moment.

"About 500 years ago." Her face suddenly lost all of its' color again, alarming both vampires with how quickly her attitude changed.

"I... I think that would be a... great idea," she whispered, biting her lip in agitation and fidgeting slightly. Ichijou sighed and relaxed his unconsciously stiff body.

"Great. I'll get you some books that you can look at." They talked for several more hours, waiting until the sun was just starting to peek over the horizen before leaving the tired human girl to get some much needed sleep.

"Ichijou," Shiki sighed, running a hand through his bright hair and wincing when the first rays of the day shot over the horizen.

"Hmm?"

"She almost needs a guard dog." Ichijou blinked at that idea, then smiled good-naturedly at his fellow Night Class student.

"Yes. She does. Trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes," Ichijou replied, clenching his hands when his instincts surged again. Over the course of the night, he'd quietly went over the feelings that had started surfacing around the priestess. He'd come to an interesting realization too. He didn't just like her; he wanted her for himself. Inwardly, he sighed. He really needed some more time to get a grip on his emotions before he did something stupid.

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Over the next several days, Kagome had gotten many visits from Yuuki and Zero. When she'd found out that they were the ones' that had rescued her, the priestess had welcomed the younger kids with wide open arms and a happy heart. She'd become very attached to Yuuki. The Day Class girl was so sweet, and always thought of everyone else before herself. It reminded the dark haired girl a little of herself. The innocence was something that she wanted the other girl to keep with her, no matter what. Speaking of Yuuki...

She knocked quietly on the door before entering.

"Hello? Are you awake, Kagome?" Yuuki asked, peeking her head in and seeing the older girl was watching her curiously.

"Hi, Yuuki! How are you today?"

"I'm... Well..." the brunette sighed, closing the door and walking over to the priestess's bed to take a seat.

"What's wrong? Is someone bothering you? Are you getting enough sleep? Is the Night Class being stupid again?" Kagome immediately fired off several questions, startling the younger girl into laughing sheepishly. It hadn't taken long to get the brunette to talk about the Night Class. And the effect they apparently had on the Day Class. Not to mention all the hard work Yuuki and Zero were supposed to do in order to keep the Night Class's secret from becoming common knowledge.

"No no! There's nothing... wrong," Yuuki soothed the agitated older girl, smiling a bit sadly and glancing down at her hands. Her thumbs were currently playing war with each other, and she stuffed them between her knees to keep from twiddling them. Her foot started jiggling and she made a conscious effort to hold still for a little more than two seconds. Kagome watched the poor girl anxiously try to get her nerves under control and took pity on the brunette.

"Is it something you want to talk about?" The younger girl nodded quietly and locked gazes with her. Kagome relaxed and sat back, smiling encouragingly. "Well, I'm all ears, Yuuki. Let it rip."

"I... I'm scared," Yuuki took a deep breath and finally started, "I'm... in love with two different boys, and I'm scared. I don't know what to do! I can't tell the Chair- I mean, my father, because he wouldn't understand! And I don't really have very many girl friend's I can talk to. Yori isn't interested in stuff like that! I... I don't know what... to do." She proceeded to explain all the feelings for the two boys she had, trying to figure out which one she loved more and how she was supposed to deal with it. The priestess sat quietly and listened to the younger girl's troubles. She'd quickly figured out that one of the boys was Zero, but the other, Kaname, she knew next to nothing about. Apparently, he'd saved Yuuki from a bad vampire when she was a child. It also seemed that this Kaname was a vampire himself.

_'Why does that name sound so familiar to me?'_ Kagome thought, letting the prefect's voice fill her head as she wracked her brain for her answer. A flash of a dark-haired man with even darker eyes floated across her mind followed almost immediately by a twinge of pain. What... was that?

_'That was... weird.'_ It took her a moment to realize that the younger girl was done talking and was waiting for her to answer. The former time traveler pulled herself out of her own thoughts to try and help Yuuki with her love problems. It was a little ironic, really, seeing as her own love life was absolutely non-existent. Sesshomaru and Shippo both had practically guaranteed it. If someone was wanting to try for her hand, they'd have to go through almost literal hell to win her "family" over.

When the priestess didn't respond after a few minutes, Yuuki averted her eyes shamefully, not wanting her new friend to judge her too harshly. Kagome laid a hand on the younger girl's arm and tapped it lightly. It got the Prefect's attention.

"... Love is hard, isn't it?" the priestess asked, grinning tightly in self-mockery, "It makes you want to do stupid things; to change who you are to be someone your not. It even comes in so many different forms that's it's hard to tell what kind of love it is."

Yuuki nodded, eyes wide in understanding. She knew the feeling. After all, she loved both Zero and Kaname.

"But, how do you know it's the right kind?" she asked, leaning towards the dark-haired girl in earnest.

"You don't. But the best thing you can do, is follow your heart," Kagome sighed, shaking her head and looking out at the night sky. The stars twinkled brightly, and she wondered if her loved ones were watching over her now?

"That's... kinda lame, Kagome," the Prefect giggled, smiling happily. Kagome turned to watch the younger girl laugh and had to laugh herself.

"I know. It's so stupid. 'Follow your heart'?" They had a good laugh about it. Then, the priestess stopped abruptly, staring at the brunette sharply, "But that's the best way to describe it. Follow who you want to truly be with. Don't let hero-worship get in the way."

Yuuki stopped, and thought for a few moments. "Do you... think I love Kaname because he saved me?"

"There's a good chance, Yuuki." The brunette looked anguished, not sure how to determine her feelings, "But let me tell you this. You need to choose. And soon. Otherwise, all three of you are going to hurt in the end."

"... I... I need to think about it," the younger girl decided, standing up and adjusting the prietess's blankets around her comfortably, "I want to be sure that I'll make the right choice." Smiling gently, she turned and walked out of the infirmary.

She had a lot to go over in her mind tonight.

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Shortly after the Prefect left, Kagome met Hanabusa Aidou. He was an interesting person, to say the least. Especially when he tried to take a nip out of her. She'd solved that problem really quick by holding a loaded gun to his forehead. Gulping in shock, the vampire had backed off and explained that he'd merely followed the scent of old blood and found her.

Once he pulled himself out of his haze, though, the priestess found him to be a surprisingly likable person, despite his arrogant attitude, and considering he was a vampire and all. He spent most of the night talking animatedly to her, making her laugh in a way she hadn't been able to in a long time. In a way, it had reminded her a little of the camaraderie she'd had with Miroku. Though thinking of the monk caused a pang in her heart, she pushed it aside to focus on Aidou. He seemed only too happy for the attention. She later thanked him and asked him to visit again when he had the chance. The blonde vampire easily agreed.

"You are the most interesting human I've ever had the chance to really talk to in a long time, Kagome," Aidou said, patting her head like a child and knowing it irked her just enough to swat at him. Leveling a glare at him, the dark haired girl huffed and crossed her arms in a pout.

"I appreciate your company, but I'm not a little kid, you know," she countered, pretending to be mad at the blonde. He wasn't fooled in the least. He could tell that this girl had suffered more than even most vampires. It was a little sad, because she was so different. But then, Kagome had also proved to be an individual with a strong spirit. He was sure, that if he'd been in her shoes, he would have let the light inside collapse long ago.

"Well, I gotta get back. I'm sure Cross and Kiryuu are going to wonder where I am and all," Aidou sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. Standing, he leaned down until he was nose-to-nose with the young priestess, "But I'll be back, my dear. You're a strange girl, after all. I like puzzles." Kagome flushed, a little wary of this gorgeous being's closness, then breathed a sigh of relief when he straightened up and turned away. Sure, she knew vampires existed, but that didn't mean she wanted to get on the business end of those sharp fangs of theirs; and she was pretty sure Aidou was just wild enough to try and sneak a bite, if he had the chance.

"Thank you, Hanabusa, for keeping me company for a little while," she replied, smiling smally when he glanced back at her. Grinning sharply, he waved lazily and headed out of the ward. Kagome was definitely an interesting human. One that he wouldn't mind keeping a close eye on either.

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A few days later, the books arrived. After the interesting conversation she'd had with Ichijou and Shiki, the blonde vampire had offered to let her look through several books about his ancestors to see if they dredged up anything, as far as her lost memories went. She was only too happy to agree. Now, though, with so many to go through, she was wondering if she'd made a bit of a mistake.

Kagome sighed quietly and closed the book she was reading. This one didn't really have what she was looking for either. It only talked a little about the ancestors of the Ichijou family. There was nothing in here to tip her off as to why she knew about Takeru. Reaching across the table, she flipped open the next one and stared at it.

It looked like a journal.

Huffing in annoyance, she browsed several pages before noticing something. The dates were from very far back. Even farther then 500 years! Excitedly, she flipped to the pages that were from the Feudal Era. Maybe Takeru had met Inuyasha at some point? Their little band had become quite infamous throughout Japan after a while.

One entry caught her eye and she dragged the text closer to her.

_1505 April_

_The Master and I met an interesting human today. She was unafraid of us, even kind. As unusual as that was, it was the sheer bright power coming off of her that really caught my attention. There was something very... different about her. Not only was she unafraid of us, she seemed almost fascinated with the thought of vampires being real. She had a kindness about her that seemed completely genuine; she didn't judge us in any way. Merely wished to know our true selves. It was... strange, but nice. _

_The Master seems to have grown quite attached to her. He sat for hours and merely watched her sleep as night fell around us. I hope that this will not deter our war, as this girl could become a victim if he continues to dote on her._

Kagome furrowed her brows and had to wonder why Takeru seemed so wary about this human girl. More than anything, she felt she was on the verge of something huge. Skimming down, she looked for names, and nearly dropped the book in shock at what she found.

_We later found out from a hanyou that she was a priestess. It explained a lot. The light that would glimmer just under the surface of her skin. The way she practically reeked of bright power. It could also explain her lack of fear in general of us. After all, holy beings can purify us as well. _

"Come on, Takeru. Give me a name for this girl!"

_We planned to erase her memories when her entourage was later attacked by a group of rogue former humans. We were sure that it was her association with us, but later, once the Master had wiped her memories and laid himself to rest in grief, I did a little more research of the girl. What I found out startled me greatly. It also explained several other unknown things about her. _

_She was the guardian of a sacred artifact known as the Shikon no Tama._

It was all the proof her mind apparently needed. Images, sounds, and sights whirled through her head. She remembered Takeru now. She'd definitely met him in her travels to the past. She'd even come to associate him as a friend. She could literally see him, standing next to her and laughing genially at something silly she'd said to him. The other vampire, the Master one, she could easily recall. But still, there wasn't a name that she could place for him. Bookmarking her spot and skimming through several pages, she finally found a name for the unknown vampire.

Kaname. An image of a young boy presented itself, overlapping the one of the older vampire. They looked... the same. But who was the boy? Was he a reincarnation? But no! Vampires weren't reborn; simply because they were able to live such long lives. Then who-

_'What if it's still him, just... younger?'_ Now she was confused. How was that possible? Were vampires able to regress their ages? If so, why would someone like him do such a thing? Now, though her memories had returned, she had even more questions.

Yet, she still felt like there was a gap somewhere. Shrugging, she turned back to where she'd left off in Takeru's journal.

_Because of such infomation, I refuse to give her name. I do not wish for her, or the jewel, to fall into greedy hands. Neither in this lifeime or any other, in her case. If I wish to do something right, I intend to protect this secret until my dying breath. One kindness deserves another. I will not risk such a pure girl being tainted by our race._

Kagome took several deep breaths and closed the book. The blonde vampire... was a good person. It didn't matter that he had to take blood in order to survive. She had all the information she needed. Now, it was time to put a plan into action.

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Ichijou flinched when his cell phone buzzed, alerting him to a text message. He'd have to read it later, though. After he was finished talking with his Grandfather.

"Is there... something you'd like to say, Takuma?" Asato Ichio was nothing, if not perceptive. He knew his grandson was not pleased with the task he was being given. Where he should have been proud to guard the true head of the Kuran family, instead, he was shying away like a stubborn child. But after outlining the severe punishments he would receive if he chose not to take up his intended position, the younger Ichijou was reluctantly agreeing to watch over Rido Kuran as he inhabited his son's body.

"Not at all, Grandfather," Ichijou replied easily, sending the older blonde a razor smile that wasn't at all the genial grin he normally wore, "However, if we're finished, I have some things I'd like to take care of before I return to school."

Ichio nodded, waving the boy away elegantly and leaning back in his stately chair. Come hell or high water, he would **make** the younger vampire understand his true place.

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Once he was safely locked in his room, Ichijou flipped open his phone and scrolled through the texts he'd received during the meeting. There was one from Rima, questioning if he'd seen Shiki recently. It made the blonde sick to know that Shiki was being used so badly in his father's petty revenge game. If only to help the other younger vampire regain control of his body, he'd keep an eye on Rido. He was sure, though, that even with the two boys combined, there was no way they'd be able to match a Pureblood as dark and powerful as Shiki's father.

The name on the next message made him blink then smile genuinely. Kagome had tried to contact him. He'd fallen hard and fast for the priestess with the kind smile. A relationship with her was something he really wanted to work on with her soon. Pushing the button, he opened the message... then barely caught the cellular device as he dropped it in shock.

_I found Takeru. I know why I know him. I want to tell you everything. _

_Kagome_

Ichijou swallowed thickly, somehow honored that the human girl was willing to share with him what exactly was going on. He quickly pushed several buttons and sent her a message back.

_I'll contact you as soon as I can. Right now isn't a good time. Can you tell me anything now? _

_Ichijou_

He got an almost immediate reply.

_I can't tell you over the phone. It's way too important. And it's not something I can just say over the phone. I need to tell you in person because I need you to understand that I'm being completely honest. I'm scared, Takuma. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it in the air. _

_Kagome_

Well. Shit.

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She finally chose to accept the invitation to stay at Cross Academy for a little while, if only to try to see if she could comunicate a little better with Ichijou. The blonde vampire seemed to be avoiding her, and, after a couple of weeks to brood, she was furious about it. Donning the Day Class uniform Chairman Cross had given her, she marched out of her room and headed down to the Moon Dorm's entrance. Yuuki had ben thrilled that she'd chosen to stay, and Zero was being protective as always. Apparently, saving him had garnered her a new bodyguard. Kagome sighed, smiling wistfully at the thought of the silver-haired human.

_'He's really very sweet... once you get past that icy exterior,'_ the priestess thought, absently kicking a rock and watching it skid across the path before stopping. Smirking, she picked it up and looked it over vaguely. She then threw it over her shoulder in an uncaring fashion, shrugging her shoulders and resuming her walk. It was still a little early for the other students to be let out of their classes, so the entrance to the walkway was deserted.

_'Just the way I wanted it.'_ Glancing around and flaring out her aura to truly make sure there was no one there, she bent her knees and leapt to the top of the wall easily. Sometimes, it paid off to have that little bit of demonic blood in her. Smiling in victory, she scanned the area and stared for a moment. The Moon Dorm in the distance looked like a castle against the afternoon sun, and it took her breath away at the lovely sight. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she dropped back down and started down the path towards her destination. She had at least a half-mile trek to go before she got there.

When the human girl finally made it to the front door, she gulped and looked up to the top of the building. Up close, the dorm was **much** larger than she'd ever anticipated. Getting herself under control, though, she knocked timidly and was rewarded with the door opening a moment later. A vampire with bright orange hair answered, a bored look on his face. It quickly morphed into surprise when he took note of her uniform.

"A Day Class student?" he asked, surprise coloring his voice. She nodded and put on a bright smile.

"Hi there! I was sent by Chairman Cross to check about some things with the Vice President of the Night Class!" she lied quickly, but convincingly. It was one thing that both Shippo and Sesshomaru had worked hard to get her to accomplish without messing up. She hated doing it, but it was a little neccessary at this point. "Do you mind if I could come in for a moment? I won't be long, I promise!"

"... Sure. Come on in," the brightly colored vampire finally sighed, running a hand through his deliberately messy hair and opening the door so she could slip in. Thanking him shyly, she made her way in and froze. It looked as though the whole Night Class was waiting in this room. Counting the time in her head, she realized that they were probably about to go to class, and could have hit herself for her carelessness. Every eye was on her. She hated being the center of attention. It made her feel extremely awkward.

_'Please, someone. Anyone, do something before I pass out from the nerves!'_

"Kagome!" Aidou called out cheerfully, waving at the human girl and sauntering over, "Did you come to visit me?" The priestess had to grin at that. Even though the blonde vampire was somewhat reckless, and definitely dramatic, he was an interesting guy to have around. He sure knew how to lighten up a situation.

"Sorry, Hanabusa. I'm not making a social call," she replied, smiling with forced happiness before she found who she was looking for. Pinning the vampire with a hefty glare, she was rewarded with a squeak from her prey as she strode towards him.

"Takuma Ichijou! I've been trying to get a hold of you for **weeks** now!" Kagome hissed, putting her face right in the blonde's and snarling at him. He had the decency to look incredibly intimidated.

"I-I-I'm sorry! I've been so busy that I-!"

"That you can't even return my calls?" Nodding meekly, she let all the fight drain out of her and she slumped over in defeat.

"I was worried, you idiot," she murmured, shuffling her feet in remorse for getting so upset with him.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. I didn't mean to worry you," Ichijou replied, awkwardly patting her dark head. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that Rido, in Shiki's body, shifted towards them in slight confusion.

"I have something important to tell you," the girl countered, looking up at him again with large blue eyes. He stiffened, then sighed.

"I can't right now. We're getting ready to go to class and-!" He was interrupted when she glared at him, yanking him down to her level by his tie.

"Well, too bad! I'm not waiting again!" Kagome huffed angrily at him and took his arm. She then proceeded to bodily drag him to the nearest empty room. Ichijou glanced back at Rido in alarm, whom was now watching the human girl with a vague interest, before letting the smaller girl manhandle him into the room.

Not even two minutes later, Kaname Kuran swept down the stairs, glancing around and nodding for them to begin their journey to classes. Everyone quietly obeyed him. Being the last one to leave, his sharp hearing picked up a soft female voice and Ichijou's distinct replies.

"Just... wait here until everyone is gone. Then go back, and don't you dare get involved with this!" the blonde answered angrily, starting to open the door.

"I can't!" was the sharp feminine reply. Kaname stopped for a moment, listening carefully. He felt like he should know that voice. "He ruined my life and killed my family! Now he's controlling his own son! I refuse to just let things stand as they are, Takuma!"

"I know I probably can't stop you," the blonde sighed, stepping back and letting the door closed, "But just... be careful. Rido Kuran is **not** the only Pureblood running around here." Without waiting for a reply, he left the room, closing the door quickly and leaning against it. Sighing loudly, the Vice-President straightened up... and immediately noticed he wasn't alone.

"Kaname."

"Ichijou."

"I... I'm coming," he replied, cowed slightly by the curious glint in the Pureblood's dark eyes. He swept past the quiet Kuran and out the front door. Glancing one last time back at the closed door, and wondering again why he felt he should know that girl's voice, he shook his head and left silently.

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She sighed quietly, waiting until the last of the vampires' auras had faded away before leaving the room. Glancing around, she was momentarily stunned by the extravegance that the Night Class seemed to live in. Obviously, Chairman Cross had a little more money than he was willing to let on. Spinning in a circle slowly, Kagome checked her surroundings again before deciding to do a little snooping. After all, if what Ichijou said was true, then Shiki was in grave danger right now.

_'How could a father want to willingly possess their child? Rido Kuran, you are despicable!'_ the priestess thought angrily. She'd do whatever it took to save Shiki. In fact...

_'I think I have some books back at my hotel room that are geared specifically towards possession. I wonder if I could draw from that.'_ If that didn't work, there were always the sutras Miroku had taught her how to make. Sure, they drove off evil spirits, so there was a good possibility that it would have the same effect.

"First, though, evidence. Then, extermination," Kagome hissed, grinning sharply and swirling up the opulent staircase. Her family wouldn't have much longer to wait. She was close. Not wanting to go through every room in the dorm, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the darkest aura she could find. She manages to pinpoint two, and decided to investigate both. Following the first, the remnants led her to a door at the far end of the hall, and she swallowed delicately before pushing it open.

The room was dimly lit, the moon filtering through the partailly opened curtains. Running her hand over the material, she was surprised at the heavy velvet texture, and knew they would easily keep the sunlight out if one desired it so. Turning away from the window, and the lovely view it had to offer, she let her blue eyes roam over the rest of the room. Something metal glinted in the weak light and caught her eye, and she walked over to the small table. A sharp knife was embedded in a chess board, the black king crumbled around the point. Swallowing, she glanced over the rest of the pieces and took note of the ones that were grouped together. The white king and queen stood proudly off to the side, surrounded by their court; except for one bishop. It seemed to be cornered just as closely to the king as the queen. How... odd. The black pieces lay scattered, as though defeated.

"Looks like someone likes chess," Kagome mumbled, picking up the white king and turning the heavy piece over in her hands. It seemed to be made of a type of marble, and look quite expensive. Setting it back down, she perused the rest of the room, coming to the closest door. So far, there had been nothing to hep her in identifying whose room this was. And her gut told her that Rido was **not** the type of vampire to like or even be remotely interested in chess. This had to be someone else's room.

"But whose?" the priestess asked out loud, knowing that no one would respond. Opening the closest door, she took careful note of the clean white Night Class uniforms and the other expensive clothes. Fingering a long-sleeved dark shirt, she whistled at the fine silk and turned to the uniforms. Holding out an arm sleeve, she shook her head at the measurements.

"Definitely not Shiki's. Who do you belong to, I wonder?" The clothes didn't answer, and she finally sighed, closing the closet and turning away. Something dark and forboding suddenly zipped across her aura, and she stiffened in shock.

_'How is that possible! I purified that son of a bitch!'_ It was either that, or the shadow demon she'd fought off a few weeks ago had a brother that wanted revenge. _'Right then, deal with the threat, then find out about Rido. If that thing gets a hold of one of the Day Class students, there'll be hell to pay.'_

Swallowing the urge to just hide and let somone else deal with it for once, Kagome squared her shoulders and headed over to the window. Opening it just enough to slip out, she closed it back and turned to face the surrounding forest. Flaring out her senses, she swallowed delicately when she came across a definitely malevolant aura. Taking a deep breath, the priestess plowed right into the shadows, defenses high and ki crackling in her fingertips.

_'Let's see the bastard try and catch me off guard this time,'_ Kagome snarled inwardly, beginning a hellish game of cat-and-mouse.

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Kaname snapped his head to the window when the sharp rise in the darkness caught him off guard. Something dangerous had entered the school grounds. Rising silently to his feet, the entire Night Class rose as one with him and watched their leader intently. Every soul in the room could sense the threat waiting outside; now they waited to see what their Pureblood master would do. When he addressed them, though, it was with a calm many of them took for face value.

"There's no need to be alarmed. We will simply deal with the threat that has chosen to fall into our jurisdiction." Turning away, he swept out of the room elegantly, expecting the others to fall in line and follow. Every eye in the class room bled red at that, except for the vampire that had taken over Shiki's body. He sat back, and would let his "nephew" handle the situation. Glancing at the Ichijou heir, he was amused to see the blonde boy fighting the need to get up and follow the others. Honestly, the young noble took his job quite seriously.

"Aren't you going to follow them?"

"... No. My needs here are greater than helping Kaname. He knows what he's doing," Ichijou hissed, flashing a crimson glare at the indolent air around Rido Kuran. Rido simply laughed quietly, not noticing when Rima Touya's red eyes flashed in his direction in calculation before she swept elegantly out the door.

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The shadows creeped unusually before lashing out at her, and Kagome swiftly backed away. Gritting her teeth, she let loose a blast of purification into the shadows and was met with nothing.

_'Damn it! He's already moved again!'_ Her cat-and-mouse game had taken a turn for the worse. She'd been hoping to have the demon on the run the moment she stepped into the darkness, fingers glowing and eyes shining in the dim moonlight. Sadly, she'd realized a little too late that it was the other way around. She'd become the mouse and he, the cat.

_'This is why I __**hate**__ dealing with shadow demons. They're cowards-'_ she dodged the swipe that came from her behind. Leaping away, she carefully follow the menacing chuckle that filled the air and tried to pinpoint the source. There! To her left! She sparked her powers again and blasted, once again missing. She let out a string of curses that would have mede Inuyasha proud.

_'Okay. Time for a new strategy.'_

"It's useless, priestess. Once you made your way into the shadows, you stepped into my domain," the demon ground out, unaware of Kagome's sudden shift into a new strategy.

"Well, I guess since it's so useless, you should take what you can, right?" she taunted, smirking when the shadows around her shivered violently with anger, "But, I won't make it easy! So catch me if you can, you pea-brained bastard!" With that, the priestess whipped off and plunged deeper into the woods. If she followed her senses corectly, there was a lake nearby, which would mean the dim light of the moon would be magnified around the water source. She weaved in and out of the trees expertly, putting on just enough speed to keep herself out of the shadows' reaches.

The demon shrieked in fury as he missed yet another chance to catch her when she darted through the shade. "I will have my vengance against you, priestess! You killed my brother! And I will take that precious Jewel from your cold dead fingers!" Kagome ducked her head when a branch above her snapped, and she glared at nothing in particular.

"Of course. It's always the stupid jewel!" she grumbled, twitching just to her left when a darker shadow barely missed ripping through her side. The stumble made her run into a branch, scraping her cheek. She brushed it away carelessly, disregarding the sting of the cut and the tiny trickle of blood that moved down her cheek.

Bursting through the trees, she skidded to a stop at the lake's edge and turned back to face the shadowed forest. The woods almost seemed to reach out for her, wanting to pull her back into the darkness. She instinctively responded by splashing into the water, letting the cold chill bite into her ankles and soaking her shoes. The moonlight wavered in the reflection of the water, shifting and making her dark hair glint an almost blue in the soft lighting.

"Now you play unfairly, priestess!" the shadows hissed in displeasure. Kagome snorted and kept her eyes on the trees, frantically searching out the demon hiding there. She was concentrating so much on the darkness there, sure that the beast would attack head-on, that she failed to see the approaching threat to her back. The moment the shadow demon solidified and attacked, though, the priestess immediately pinpointed the rush from behind and jerked away. Had she been a second later, she would have lost her head. Cursing, she whipped around and prepared to incinerate her opponent. Hearing her name being called, she twitched and spun, splashing deeper into the lake. The water now came up to her knees.

Kagome was suddenly surounded by a wall of ice that flashed out to strike at her opponent sharply. It caught the demon and quickly began to freeze the shadow into an icy prison. In the same shocked moment of watching this, she was snatched and pulled away, carried out of the lake by a familiar blonde vampire.

"Kagome! Are you okay?" Aidou asked, setting her down and checking her over for injuries. Other than a shallow cut along her cheek, she seemed to be unharmed. "Akatsuki! Get a light over here!" The orange haired vampire approached them, lighting a ball of fire in his hand and moving it over Kagome. The action cause the little clearing to be lit up enough for her to definitely distinguish the fact that she was surrounded by probably the entire Night Class. She filed the information away, but for now was frozen in trepidition, because the moment AIdou had unwittingly saved her, one of the other vampires in the group had let his eyes flash to a dark red. He was angry; not to mention familiar to her.

_'Who... is he? Why is he familiar.'_ It hit her in the next instant. This vampire looked just like the Kaname she'd known back in the past! It had to be him; everything was the exact same! Even his rippling dark aura was familiar to her! Several images clicked and locked into place, and she finally settled on the fact that the boy that she hadn't been able to figure out from her childhood was the same Kaname from the distant past. She shoved Aidou away suddenly, backing up several paces and glancing around. She'd just remembered something very important, something about the vampire that had saved her back then. He was incredibly protective, and she didn't want the blonde to be incapacitated because of his touchy-feely attitude.

"It's okay, you know," the blonde responded to the vaguely panicked expression on the pretty human's face, "I got rid of it." Pointing to the frozen shadow demon, the priestess's attention was shifted just slightly, and then she noticed an odd flicker that the flames in Kain's hand were making.

"Don't-!" She shoved the brightly colored vampire away suddenly, and received a hole in her stomach for her effort. The shadowed hand that had been reaching out to the flame specialist had whipped around and plunged sharp claws into her. Choking, she immediately spit out blood from her mouth. There had been two of them the whole time, and she hadn't even noticed! This bastard had punctured a hole in one of her lungs!

"You-!" Kagome coughed, reaching out to shaking fingers instinctively to Kaname. The demon appeared fully formed and grinned darkly at her. Distantly, she heard Aidou shouting her name and saw the other vampires start and move in to deal with the threat. She couldn't let them near her! Not when she could hurt them so easily!

"S-Stay-!" she tried to tell them, but they weren't listening! Only Kaname had stopped, watching her very carefully as she attempted to convey her panicky emotions to him, red eyes screaming in fury to eviscerate her enemy; to destroy the one that had hurt her.

"Now, my revenge is complete. It's pointless to struggle, priestess. Just give me the jewel," the demon chuckled darkly, lifting his other hand to trace the collar of her t-shirt. Kagome grit her teeth and set her hand against his face in retaliation.

Energy crackled in the air, and the Kuran suddenly called a halt, instructing everyone to back away quickly.

"Yeah... Well, laugh this up, you bastard!" Her fingers glowed, sparking with purification, and the demon shrieked as he tried to rip himself away from her. He was far too close though, and would easily be caught in the blast. So, absently praying that the vampires would get the hell out of the way, she let loose on the urge to purify and engulfed herself in a pink light. Every vampire hissed in displeasure at the bright display and backed away in shock, the sheer power making the hairs on their arms stand up in caution.

When the light faded, Kagome stumbled to stay upright, clutching her stomach in agony and coughing up more blood weakly. Now, with her powers shrinking back into dormancy from dealing with the immediate threat, she was helpless. And bleeding. And surrounded by vampires.

_'I am so screwed,'_ she thought, panting for air and wincing from the pain. Kaname chose that moment to approach, the red in his eyes quickly melting away in concern. His little priestess was hurt and she needed serious medical attention. He **was not** going to lose her after only just finding her! Sure, he was beyond confused about how she was even alive, but he would resolve those issues later.

"You need to go to the hospital. With a wound like that, you're sure to attract much more attention," he surmised, watching as she warily eyed him, then relaxed and gave him a weak smile.

"I always seem to get the short end of the stick, huh?" the priestess muttered, flushing at the darkly amused look he sent her, "I... don't really understand what's going on, but there's a lot of questions I've got for you to answer." The Kuran muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "not the only one", but she was past being able to underdstand much anymore. Things were starting to get fuzzy. She felt her knees give out and she crumbled to the ground, her body no longer able to support her. Vaguely, she heard the Pureblood hiss a warning to the other vampires and strode to her in haste.

He was almost to the little human when bright blue flames suddenly surrounded the priestess, cutting her off from the rest of the world. The former ancestor snarled loudly, anger making his eyes glow a much darker red than normal again.

"Sorry bloodsuckers! But this priestess is mine," a jovial voice proclaimed, stepping out of the fire and carrying a smirk over the students. Several growls filled the air, the most threatening one coming from the leader of the group. His eyes narrowed sharply on the Kuran and the smirk dropped from his face.

"You, Kuran, are lucky I don't rip you apart right now," he hissed, green eyes bleeding red in agitation and his bushy tail bristling in anger.

"And you, fox, have **no idea** what you are up against!" Kaname hissed, working the air around them to try and douse out the pillar of blue fire surrounding his priestess. Said fox grinned arrogantly again and walked away, long red hair whipping in the harsh hot wind.

"Too bad for you, that you'll never get her!" he called, walking right through the flames and picking up the almost unconscious Kagome. Manuvering her carefully, he took to the skies, not bothering to look back as his Fox Fire dissipated.

Kagome rolled her head to the side, her dazed blue eyes never leaving Kaname's angry red ones as she was taken farther away from someone she just remembered she cared deeply about. Pain overwhelmed her, and she finally slipped blissfully into unconsciousness.

_'Kaname.'_

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A/N: And this is the part where I break up this chapter. I want to thank everyone for their patience and I hope this helps a little.

Revision (April 22 2011)


	5. Here's to Hoping

A/N: Final Chapter. Please enjoy!

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There were times when she was grateful for the rapid healing Sesshomaru's blood had given her, and this was one of them. Groaning in pain, she put a hand to her stomach and weakly called upon her healing powers to hurry the process.

"You're lucky I came when I did, Kagome," a voice stated, huffing in agitation. The left side of the bed moved as her rescuer took a seat next to her. She turned her head and pained blue met angry green in a showdown.

"I was handling it just fine, Shippo. In fact, I was-!"

"Bleeding from a hole in your gut surrounded by vampires," the fox interrupted, tugging on his long ponytail in a habitual agitated fashion, "Yeah. That's just fine to me."

"They weren't going to hurt me!" Kagome protested, pushing a little more ki into her hand and wincing when a pink spark shocked her in retaliation, "I know at least a quarter of those guys! They wouldn't-!"

"Let me tell you something, nee-chan," Shippo stopped her, leveling a concerned look at the flustered priestess, "Even being a demon and like a sibling to you, you're blood smells absolutely delicious. I think, that even though they knew you, any one of those vampires would have tried to devour you if given the right kind of signals."

The priestess blinked at him in shock, then flushed in annoyance. Her hand flickered and the light faded slowly, her wound healed up nicely. Sitting up didn't hurt anymore. Now, though, she needed to change; and maybe shower.

"Well, I'm sure they all think you've kidnapped me by now," she grumbled, swinging her legs to the floor and standing. A sense of vertigo hit her and she swayed on the spot. The fox demon was immediately at her side, fussing needlessly and petting her tangled dark hair.

"You need to be more careful, Kagome! You just lost a good amount of blood!" he hissed, baring fangs at her in a show of agitation.

"What I **need** is a shower and some sleep," the priestess mumbled, pushing the red head aside gently and stumbling to her bath room. Without needing the light, Kagome flipped on the faucet easily and switched it to shower mode. Within a minute or two steam began to issue from the tub and she pulled her bloody clothes off, not really caring if Shippo saw her or not. She'd bathed with him enough times when he was little that it didn't really bother her anymore. Not to mention all the times he'd patched her up from injuries over the last two years.

"Your always push yourself too much, nee-chan," the fox huffed, waltzing into the room when he was sure she had stepped into the shower, "What happened this time?"

"Shadow demons. They were brothers and they were out for revenge. You know how hard it is to pinpoint those kinds," Kagome replied, clipping her sentences short and knowing that Shippo understood the annoyance of that particular type of demon. Shippo whistled and leaned against the sink, watching the silhouete of Kagome go through the motions of washing her hair.

"And you just took out two of them?"

"Three. I got a hold of one a few weeks before these guys and they came after me to avenge their sibling," the priestess sighed, fingering hre conditioner bottle and not feeling the hot water cascading down her back, "I can understand why they were so upset."

"Kagome, you can't relate to every sould that's lost a part of their family. Not everyone is quite as justified for revenge as you are," the red head countered, knowing exactly where the dark haired human's train of thought was heading. He watched her carefully consider his words, slowly working the cream rinse through her hair and washing it out methodically a few minutes later.

"I know."

"Good. And, just so you know, I'm here to help you any way I can," he continued, keeping his voice deliberately light.

"... Shippo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"That's what family's for, nee-chan," Shippo responded, adding a real fondness to the last word.

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He'd never wanted to kill more than the moment he'd watched the fox demon whisk his Kagome away in a flurry of fire. He'd been so close; she was **right there**! And yet, she'd slipped from his fingers once again!

_'If that was her, then what about that unnamed grave marker?'_ the ancestor thought, gritting his teeth and storming into his room. He froze, though, when a scent he could easily recognize in his dreams tickled his nose. Kagome had been in here. In **his** room! Licking his lips in response to the overwhelming hunger that suddenly surged, Kaname took note of his belongings. Nothing seemed out of place.

Striding over to the chess board, he picked up the white king, twirled it around in his fingers deftly, then replaced it, only to take up the white bishop nearest the king. He paid no attention to the queen; instead, he carefully eyed the bishop in his hands, then smirked.

"You seem to have slipped from my fingers again, my elusive little priestess," the vampire muttered absently, caressing the bishop in a possesive way before setting it down next to the king. Turning away, he pulled open the heavy curtain and watched the slowly brightening sky as dawn approached. It was time to sleep, but his mind was too full of possibilities to even remotely consider laying down.

_'When I see that fool of a fox again, I'm going to enjoy ripping him to shreds!'_ Kaname thought, gripping the curtain and hissing angrily as the sun barely peeked over the horizen. Snapping the curtain shut plunged his room into darkness, and he walked away towards his bed, the red not fading from his eyes until long after morning had come.

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It was several days later that she'd gotten wind early on that Ichijou had decided to end his family line. How Shippo had been able to come across that kind of information, the priestess didn't want to know. So, while the fighting that she was sure was going on took place at the school, she was off on a quest of her own to try and rescue poor Takuma. All that mattered to her was that she couldn't let her friend take his life like that!

Kagome dashed up the steps to the top floor of the Ichijou home, her heart already in her throat. The fighting had apparently stopped, and she could only feel one aura at this point.

_'Please! Please don't let Takuma be dead!'_ she prayed hard. She couldn't lose the blonde vampire right now. not when he was such an important person to her. Rounding the corner, she was hit by a wave of malevolent darkness. Another vampire had entered the scene. And the priestess had no idea who it was.

_'Great. So I'm going in there blind,'_ she thought sourly, gripping her sword anxiously and creeping towards the ajar door at the end. Vaguely, she heard a voice, but the blood rushing in her ears prevented her from actually hearing what was being said. It sounded like... a woman. And it sounded like she was talking to Ichijou.

When Kagome slipped into the room, and finally registered what the incredibly beautiful vampire was saying, she saw red. That woman was trying to take **her** friend away for her own nefarious purposes. Clamping down on her aura and scent, the priestess snuck up on her and flipped her sword against her throat.

"Touch him, and I don't care if you're a Pureblood; I'll kill you," Kagome hissed, glaring angrily at the blonde woman's hands that were inches away from Ichijou's head.

"Well, I'm sure, as a human, you wouldn't mind that I borrow him?" she answered in a lilting voice that, had she not known better, would be sweet and musical. The priestess steeled herself to vampire charms and pressed her blade a little closer to the woman's neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

"You... Leave him alone. He's not a toy or a playmate that you can just pick up and take home! He's a person, and he should be treated as such!"

She laughed; actually laughed in the dark haired girl's face!

"You're so amusing! I've never come across such a pretty human that had such cute things to say!" the woman smiled. Kagome suppressed the urge to shudder. Her smile... it reminded her of the fake ones that Naraku used to use to trick everyone into thinking he was the good guy. She **did not** like this woman.

"Stand, vampire!" the priestess bit out, twitching her blade in warning. The blonde woman rose gracefully and said not a word. "Now, name!"

"Sara Shirabuki, little pet," she responed, smiling gently at the younger girl. Kagome snorted and and dropped her blade, only to stop at the vampire's heart.

"Back away, Sara Shirabuki, and I will spare you." Sara tilted her head quizzically and smirked, not believing the little human in front of her. But, she decided to indulge her and backed away several paces. Her serene gaze flickered in surprise, then, when the other girl called up a strong barrier. Reaching out, she tried to push against it... and was immediately rebuffed, pure sparkling engergy crackling around her fingers and searing the flesh on her hand. Sara pulled back, dropping her charred hand. This girl... was not an ordinary human.

"What are you, human?" she asked, her petulance and high standing demanding an answer. By this time, Kagome had gathered up Ichijou and had pushed open the second story window. Calling out to Hachi, she smiled triumphantly back at Sara's black look.

"I'm a priestess, Pureblood, and if I catch you **ever** trying to involve Takuma in your plans, I'll kill you." With that said, the human girl and the Ichijou heir dropped out of sight, landing on Hachi's transformed back and floating away quickly. But not before they heard Sara shriek loudly in fury and defeat.

"Feels good to one-up that bitch," Kagome sighed, cradling Ichijou's head in her lap and trying to get him to wake up after feeling a weak pulse in his wrist.

"Lady Kagome, you are excellent at making enemies," Hachi sighed, inwardly shaking his head since he couldn't do it outwardly without dislodging his cargo.

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He was sure he'd died. The injuries Ichio had inflicted on him were deep. Not even someone as prestigious as himself would live after the fight they'd gone through.

_'At least I know that I died for an admirable reason,'_ the Ichijou heir thought, slipping in and out of feeling very light and heavy. He hurt **everywhere**. Was he slowly bleeding out? Was that why it was taking so long?

_'Please... just let it end.'_

_"-akuma!"_ Now, he was sure he was dead. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to hear **her** voice. She sounded... sad. And upset.

_'Don't be sad, Kagome. I did the right thing. Maybe someday, I'll get to see you when you cross over into the afterlife.'_

_"Takuma! Takuma!" _

_'Her voice is so sweet.'_ Ichijou sighed inwardly, turning his head and feeling something soft and silky beneath his cheek. He could almost smell her now. It was mind-numbingly delicious.

_"Takuma? You're drooling on my leg."_ Wait. Kagome would never have said that in the afterlife to him! Blinking heavily, he opened his eyes. Her pretty face swam in front of him, looking very concerned.

"Ka-Kagome?" Her face lit up and she gave him a mega-watt smile. He thought he'd explode from happiness.

"Oh good! You're awake! I was so worried!" He opened his mouth to reply...

And every single injury he'd gotten came back full force. Instead of words, he let loose a strangled groan that made him sound absolutely pathetic.

Dear Lord above, he felt awful!

"Don't move! You're badly injured!" Oh he knew that. It was part of the reason why he almost passed out again from the sheer pain alone. Only her blue eyes, so full of concern, kept him from tipping into the oblivion of unconsciousness. For a few moments, he laid there, simply trying to push the pain away and basking in the warm glow of her scent.

"Where... What happened?"

"I came and got you at your house," Kagome replied, a suddenly black look crossing her features. In that brief second, she looked terrifying. "It's a good thing I did too; otherwise you'd be under the control of that crazy woman!"

"... What crazy woman?"

"I don't know anything about her," she responded sheepishly, "All I know is that her name was Sara Shirabuki, and she was trying to take you for herself while you were hurt." Ichijou sucked in a breath in shock. Sara...

"Did... Did she do anything to you?" he asked, glancing at what he could see of the priestess. She shook her head, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. Now... What are we flying on?" Indeed, he'd just noticed that they were moving in the sky, which was a strange sensation for him. Kagome smiled happily again and patted the object fondly.

"This is Hachigan! He's a racoon demon and can transform to carry things... and people," Kagome explained before leaning over and smiling widely, "How are you doing, Hachi? Are we too heavy for you?"

"Not at all, Lady Kagome!" came the rumbling voice from beneath, making Ichijou swallow his scream in shock.

"Well, just let me know, and we'll get you somewhere to rest!"

"Very well, milady!" She sat back up, the bright smile still on her face.

"See! Hachi's really nice. I like him a lot! He was also a good friend of Miroku's," she explained, playing with his hair absently to try and soothe the panic she could feel building in the young vampire.

"I..." he finally swallowed, the initial urge to jump fading slowly, "I see. That's good then... that you have someone like him to rely on." She nodded happily, then wrapped an arm around him.

"Okay, let's get you to try and sit up." With a little work, they managed, and Ichijou clamped down on the urge to groan in pain again when his exercise pulled at his injuries. Panting in exertion, he watched her through glazed eyes as she began to treat him by cleaning and wrapping his injuries. When she was done, the concerned furrow between her brows was still there.

"You're still pretty bad off. Is there anything else I can do to take the edge off?"

"Blood... would probably help," he muttered before he could stop himself. He gulped, beating himself up inside at the stupid suggestion. Of course he'd **never** take her blood! Not even if she-

"Okay. Do you think mine will help?"

-offered... Oh. Hell.

"I'm not taking your blood, Kagome!" he snapped, backing away from her when she glared at him.

"You just said blood would help! I've got plenty, not to mention my blood even has healing properties!" the priestess snapped, pushing one of her volumous sleeves up and baring her pale arm, "So just take it!"

"Absolutely not! I'm **not** taking your blood!" Ichijou hissed, the overwhelming desire to **want** to do what he shouldn't making him irritated and antsy. She gave him a hurt look and moved away from him.

"Fine... You don't want it, then don't take it," she huffed, palming a dagger in her other hand and waiting for the opportune moment. The moment he relaxed, she sliced the blade across her arm, the squelching noise not really bothering her. Blood dripped morbidly off of her and she took on a vaguely shocked expression.

"Oops! Looks like I goofed!" she deadpanned, shaking her arm just slightly to make more drip off her. Hachi squirmed underneath her and she felt bad about getting him dirty. "Sorry, Hachi. I slipped and cut my arm **wide** open!" Grinning at Ichijou, whom had gone from slightly flushed to paper white in about two heartbeats, she brandished her injured arm at him and spoke.

"I guess there's no point in wasting it! Here! I'm bleeding! You should help youself, Takuma!" She said it with such a bright cheerfulness, that Ichijou immediately wanted to smack her for being so careless... and reckless.

"This... This is **so wrong**!" he whined, hoping that she would take his refusal seriously. She didn't seem to care since she stuck her bleeding limb right under his nose.

"Don't be so picky and just **take it**!" He snatched her wrist, dragging her closer and snuffed her injury, dark green eyes bleeding red. Kagome closed her mouth, suddenly realizing what she'd been doing the whole time. It was like baiting Sesshomaru with a challenge of any type; extremely dangerous.

"... You have to tell me if I hurt you, or if you get dizzy," Ichijou growled, fangs lengthening in instict. He licked her arm, dragging his tongue across her injury and shuddering in desire. She tasted **sweet**. One tiny taste and he was already addicted. A red haze descended over his senses and he watched her carefully through hooded lids as she nodded, her face flushed.

"O... Okay. I'll let you know when I get dizzy," she responded faintly, eyeing his mouth with just a little trepadition. What the hell had she just gotten herself into?

"If I hurt you!"

"... You won't hurt me, Takuma. I trust you!" Kagome replied, smiling nervously and **hoping** it wouldn't hurt if, no **when**, he bit her. Her softly spoken words made him glance up, a shred of humanity entering his mind.

"I don't want this to jepordize... us," he admitted quietly, cradling her arm to him gently. Her blue eyes, which had been full of wariness, flickered and warmed. She smiled for real then.

"It won't, Takuma." It seemed to be all the convincing he needed because he pulled her arm close again and began to languidly clean the blood off of her arm with his tongue. Around her cut, down her wrist, her palm. His mouth wreaked havoc on her senses when he slipped one of her blood-coated fingers in his mouth and began to swirl it around with his tongue. Kagome's face was bright red and she was having a lot of trouble breathing all of a sudden.

"L-Lady Kagome?"

"I'm... I'm okay, Hachi. It's fine. He's... He's-eep!" Her hand twitched involuntarily when one of his fangs scraped her palm delicately. Ichijou continued on, licking a path up her wrist and almost biting her just for the hell of it. He waited though, and worked his way back up to her sluggishly bleeding injury, mindful to clean every inch of her pale skin that had been tarnished by the dark red color. His tongue agitated her wound, breaking it back open and letting the blood drip little by little into his mouth. The vampire shuddered again. It was perfect... and yet.

_'I want more...'_ he thought absently, licking her arm and suddenly driving his fangs into a spot just above her cut. She gasped, jerking in shock, but with the tight grip on her wrist, the priestess wasn't able to move back very much. Watching Ichijou's red eyes flicker at the taste of her blood, Kagome realized she might have taken a little too much stock into her friend's ability to control the beast raging inside him just under the surface.

Ichijou carefully began to track Kagome's pulse with his thumb resting against her wrist, and when it started to slow down a few minutes later, he ripped himself away from her arm, taking deep breaths to get the beast back under lock and key. Absently, he dragged his tongue across the puncture wounds in her arm, sealing them up and snagging the last droplets that fell from her.

"... Are... you... okay?" he asked, taking in lungfuls of air and beginning to back away from the priestess. She nodded and unglued her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

"I'm fine! It doesn't even hurt!" she lied, swinging her arm around like she hadn't just had someone take a bite out of her. Ichijou chuckled quietly and let himself slump into her, resting his forehead on her shoulder. She was immediately buzzing with questions, asking if he was all right and wondering if her blood was trying to purify him. He hadn't taken the magic in her into account at all, and the queasy burning feeling in his chest was slowly moving to his stomach.

"It's fine. It feels... a little like heartburn and an upset stomach," he admitted, sheepishly raising his head to smile self-mockingly at her. She blinked in confusion, then laughed gently.

"Awww! Is the poor vampire all sick?" she cooed, rubbing his hair in a childish way. He groaned audibly and slumped back into her.

"Takuma! What's wrong!"

"Upset stomach," he managed to spit out before curling into her to let her baby him.

_'I'm __**never**__ taking her blood again! Not unless I have Tums nearby!'_

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When they landed, Kagome immediately began taking stock of her surroundings. Off in the distance, towards the school, she could feel the Night Class. It appeared that there were other vampires on the property that were trying to take the Day Class students as meals. She almost decided to check on them first, but the dark wave of an aura she instantly recognized had her turning in another direction. Another, much blacker feeling came from a second aura a few seconds later that had her almost letting her knees buckle in fear. Rido was that way.

"Kaname..." she whispered, gripping the hilt of her sword as she analyzed the emotions in that dark aura. He was angry, that was for sure, and upset. Not to mention... afraid?

"Something's going on over there," the priestess muttered, glancing at Ichijou and a now re-transformed Hachi as they sidled up to her, " I need to get there. If I can calm him down, we'll have a much better chance at defeating Rido than individually. I know I can't take him alone." With that said, and a grim smiled thrown over her shoulder, she took a couple of steps in the direction of the two Kurans.

Ichijou grabbed her elbow and stopped her from leaving. Turning back Kagome started to insist he let her go.

"Takuma! I've got to go! They're-!"

Pulling her back to him, the blonde lowered his head and kissed her. The priestess remained stock still in shock, and it gave him the opportunity to wrap one arm around her waist and bury the other in her long dark hair. He gently scraped a fang across her lower lip and she gasped loudly, allowing him to delve his tongue in her mouth to taste her more fully. Her hands, which were resting on his shoulders, tremored delicately as he assaulted her senses. She tasted as mouth-watering as her blood had.

_'Why... What?'_ There was little she could do. Despite being injured, Ichijou was still stronger than her by quite a bit. Her eyes drooped to half-mast, little sparks dancing along her spine. Even though he still tasted faintly like her blood, for some reason, she didn't really mind it. He took advantage of her stupified state to infuse all the pent up passion he'd kept inside for the little human.

_'I... What do I do?'_ The blonde vampire solved her dilema by breaking contact, breathing heavily. She then realized that her cheeks were warm and she was breathless too.

_'She tastes so sweet. Aidou's right. Forbidden is __**definitely**__ better tasting; even if it is bad for your health,'_ the blonde thought, watching the priestess through half-lidded dark green eyes as she gazed up at him with flushed cheeks and messy hair. He lowered his head and licked her bottom lip out of sheer instinct. Damn, he just couldn't get enough of her!

"Taku-! Why did you-!"

"Because... You don't have to pick him," Ichijou muttered, averting his eyes when her expressive blue eyes shifted from confused to helpless, "You have... other options. Kaname's not the only one that cares deeply about you."

"I... " Kagome was at a loss for words. How could she hurt him so badly just by being the one she wouldn't choose. She lowered her head, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. For the first time in two years, she'd never been so close to just letting loose and bawling her eyes out. "... I'm sorry."

Ichijou sighed, running a hand through his hair guiltily before hugging the distraught human girl. "Shh! It's okay. It's not the end of the world if you don't choose me, Kagome," tilting her chin up and wiping away the almost tears, he continued, "I want you to be happy. And if it's not with me... well... I'm okay just being friends." Even if he was lying through his teeth. Even if his heart ached just to say those words. Even if he wanted to cringe and snatch her away right now.

He would give the Pureblood a chance to make her happy. But if he screwed up...

_'I suppose this makes me a terrible friend. I'm plotting to steal his intended away if he makes her upset.'_ Inwardly, he laughed. His life was going to be so messed up now.

"I... Thank you, Takuma. You're a good person," Kagome replied, hugging him gently and being mindful of his injuries.

"L-Lady Kagome! You must hurry! The battle-!"

"I know, Hachi." Turning to Miroku's old friend, she pulled the raccoon in for a hug then darted off quickly, "Thank you for your help! Take care of Takuma while I'm gone, okay?"

"Will do, Milady!" Hachi waved, then turned viscious eyes onto the vampire. Ichijou gulped, sure he was in for hell.

"You... Don't make her life any harder, you fool! Lady Kagome has been through more than you can posisbly imagine!" the raccoon snarled, growling angrily at the cowed blonde.

"I know that. She told me everything about herself," Ichijou retorted, narrowing hard green eyes at the shapeshifter.

"Really. She told **you** everything." It wasn't a question. It even sounded as though the small raccoon didn't believe him.

"I know that she's the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. I know that Rido Kuran killed her family to try and resurrect the jewel from it's dormant state. I even know that she met my ancestor and Kaname 500 years ago because she could travel through a rip in time." Hachi seemed very surprised about the amount of information he had on his beloved priestess, but then he smirked slyly and pinned Ichijou with a look.

"She obviously didn't tell you the whole truth as far as her family was concerned," the old raccoon countered, waving a hand in dismissal when the blonde blinked and looked interested, "but it's not your place to know, really. Family only and all."

Hachi gulped when Ichijou's shadow loomed over him, killing intent rolling off of him in waves. "Tell me what he did."

"Rido Kuran... He... " the raccoon swallowed and finally gave in when the blonde began to inch his sword out of its sheath, "He killed her too! Lord Sesshomaru barely managed to bring her back and though he sees her as a sister, she's sworn vengence on that Pureblood!"

Ichijou sat back in shock, the color draining from his face. "He killed... Kagome?"

And then the rest of what the racoon said caught up to him. "She's affiliated with **THE** Lord Sesshomaru? The **same** Sesshomaru who's the current ruling **Lord of the West**?"

"... What other Lord Sesshomaru do you know?" Hachi asked, looking slightly confused. Ichijou moaned and sank to the floor. He was in love with a girl that was apparenly Lord Sesshomaru's sister. He was doomed, he just knew it.

_'No, Kaname's doomed. There's __**no way**__ a stubborn dog like that one would willingly give up someone as sweet and powerful as Kagome!'_ the blonde thought, raising his head to watch the moon sink lower, _'... I don't envy you at all, Kaname.'_

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After gathering Kirara from the hospital room she'd been staying in, Kagome quickly accessed the skies and turned to the small feline.

"What do you say, Kirara? Are you up for a fight?" The kitten "mewed" and transformed in a flurry of fire. Grinning in anticipation, the priestess opened the window and let the larger cat out. Reaching behind her, she gripped her sword and hauled herself outside, then slipped onto the demon's back. Between one heartbeat and the next, they were airborne, soaring in the night sky. Kagome let loose the urge to laugh and it came out loud and clear. Finally leaning into Kirara's furry neck, she whispered something in the feline's ear and held on tight. Kirara let out a battle cry and zoomed across the sky to their destination.

Tracking auras had always come easily to her once the barrier to her powers had collapsed with Magatsuhi's defeat. She could distinctly remember the dark slimy feeling of Rido's aura, not to mention the simmering fire laying just beneath Kaname's aura. It was a touch that was slightly different than when she'd known him back in the past. Then again, he'd probably been furious at Shippo for whisking her away while injured. She definitely remembered the careful way he always used to handle her, not to mention the fierce protectiveness his dark aura had exuded when Naraku had tried to absconed her from his grasp. Flushing in embarrassment, she shook her head roughly and refocused on the different auras sifting through her radar. She recognized Zero's, Rido's, and Kaname's. They were lumped together, obviously fighting. But... there was another small bright aura leaking through the males' energies. One that she was sure she was supposed to recog-

"Yuuki," Kagome breathed, sucking in a breath in shock. Her young friend's light energy was closest to Rido, though, which meant... The priestess snarled in fury, unconsciously urging Kirara to fly faster. "That bastard... He took Yuuki as a hostage!" Gripping the blade she'd sheathed over her hip, she wrenched it out and snapped her sharp gaze around the area. She was almost there and she definitely wanted to get the drop on Rido.

_'Literally,'_ the dark haired girl mused inwardly, smirking sharply when she finally spotted the four. Kaname and Zero seemed frozen, unwilling and unable to attack the other Pureblood due to the fact that he was currently using the Day Class girl as a shield. Sharpening her hearing, she listened to what the vampire was droning on about. When she caught the words "niece", "nephew", and "Juuri", Kagome sat back for a moment, confused. Her expression cleared an instant later when she put the pieces together, and glanced from Kaname to Yuuki rapidly.

_'They're related! Of course! How did I not see it! They're siblings!'_ she thought, furrowing her brow in confusion a second later, _'Shouldn't that make Yuuki a vampire? And a Pureblood, at that?'_ But that made no sense! Yuuki was clearly human! Unless-

"Unless something happened and someone locked away her vampire side," Kagome muttered, narrowing her eyes sharply. Oh, this was bad. She needed to get down there. Now. If her uncle turned her...

"Sorry, Kirara. I'm taking the jump," the priestess apologized to her old friend, sliding off the fire-cat's back and descending like a fallen angel on Rido and Yuuki, sword held high and expression fierce.

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Yuuki winced when Rido, her "Uncle" apparently, cackled wickedly at Kaname and Zero. The former was absolutely furious with himself for letting his sister fall into the wrong hands, and the latter was white-faced with anguish and determination. As soon as they could, they'd happily rip Rido's manical head off.

"This will be quite the treat. I'll have my bride, and I'll do away with the rest of you," the older Pureblood hissed, tightening his hands around Yuuki's arms and leaning over her neck, "My precious Juuri. I've waited for this for so long."

The Day Class girl shook visibly in terror. The bad vampire was going to eat her! And, this time, Kaname couldn't save her! Meeting the other Pureblood's gaze, she gave him a trembling smile as tears leaked out of her brown eyes.

"I'm glad... that I got to know you were my brother, Kaname. I'm sorry we couldn't spend more time together," she whispered, flinching when Rido licked her neck.

"Finally mine," the Kuran whispered, opening his mouth and exposing elongated fangs.

"NOT ON MY WATCH, PAL!" a voice above him screamed, and the vampire barely had time to jerk his head back before a silver sword swung down between him and Yuuki. His hands weren't quite fast enough, and were severed at the wrists. He shrieked in fury and stumbled away, glancing up and meeting blazing blue eyes as Yuuki's rescuer pushed the girl away and swung at him again. He was caught in the chest and a deep cut appeared, dripping blood morbidly. Screaming again, this time in pain, the Pureblood stepped away several more feet. The woman that was now standing between his soon-to-be bride brandished her sword, long inky hair flowing around her in an unseen wind and blue eyes crackling with angry pink energy. Her pale skin literally glowed an iridescent rainbow of colors, the scent of purity singeing his nostrils.

Who the hell was this girl?

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Kagome swung down, separating the vampire from her young friend and feeling the blade slice through his wrists. Smirking darkly, she landed facing Yuuki, pushing the girl gently in Zero's direction and turning to deliver another blow to Rido. a Long cut appeared across the Pureblood's chest and he cried out, knowing the purification in the blade would prevent the wound from healing easily.

All in all, the manuevers took less than a few second to execute, and she felt very proud of herself for inflicting damage on two different elite vampires tonight. Lifting her sword, she grasped the hilt in both hands and sneered at the injured Kuran.

"It's over, Rido Kuran. After two years of waiting for you to resurface, I will exact my revenge against you for my family," the priestess stated lowly, energy crackling into the sword and purifying the blood off of the blade. Rido recovered and rose to his full height, snarling angrily at her in contempt.

"I care not about your revenge, human! What I want is my bride!"

"Well, too bad! She doesn't want you!" she snapped back, glancing back at a terrified Yuuki, "Do you, Yuuki?" The brunette quickly shook her head, tears whipping off her face in response to the jerky movement. Kagome smiled and reached over to pat the girl on top of the head. "Didn't think so. I'd say the exact same thing if I knew a nut job like him!"

In the moment of distraction, Rido disappeared off of her senses and she swung around. Claws caught her right shoulder, ripping a new wound into the tender flesh, and Kagome grit her teeth to keep from screaming in pain. Why did they **have** to rough her up?

"Bastard!" Zero shouted, aiming and firing a shot from his Bloody Rose. The bullet pinged and went straight through Rido's left shoulder, but too high to hit his heart. The vampire howled in agony and flinched away. In his moment of weakness, Kaname apeared instantly behind him, a blood-formed deadly scythe swinging in terrible accuracy. Rido's head left his shoulders and flopped to the ground. In the next heartbeat, the body dissolved and the head disappeared, bloody strings flowing around the four fighters. Kagome winced and grabbed her shoulder.

"Damn bastard!" she hissed, backing up and protecting Yuuki's front while Zero took one side and Kaname took the other. "he is so dead... as soon as I figure out where the hell he is!"

"You're always getting injured, Kagome," Zero sighed, cocking his gun and letting his senses out. Kaname said nothing, still in a bit of a shock. Was this really **his** Kagome? Blood didn't lie, though, and the girl next to him was definitely bleeding the same blood. She was so... different. And yet, glancing at her briefly before re-training his senses back on Rido, she was the same.

"... Take Yuuki, Zero, and get out of here," the priestess responded quietly, glancing at something that flickered to her right. She let a breath out. It was only Kirara, "Kirara can go with you, but get her out of here." When the silver-haired boy looked like he would protest, their conversation was cut off when Rido appeared behind Yuuki, reaching out newly regenerated hands to snatch her away again. Kagome acted fast, switching spots with the Day Class girl and ramming her sword right into the vampire's gut. He shrieked in failure and pain again, and swiped at her with a bloody clawed hand. Kagome leaned back, wincing when he cut a shallow gash across her cheek. Yuuki and Zero veered away from the fight while Kaname flipped around and aimed at Rido's heart. He stopped short though, when the other vampire's control wouldn't let him give the finishing blow. Gritting his teeth, he changed course abruptly and sliced off the arm that had reached out to Yuuki in desperation.

"Go now, Zero! We can hold him!" Finally nodding in consent, the vampire hunter grabbed his girlfriend's hand and started to drag her away. "Yuuki!" The brunette turned to her, confusion on her face, "Throw me Artemis!" Without thinking, the younger girl flipped the hunter rod out and tossed it to Kagome. She caught it with one hand while wrenching her blade out of the struggling vampire, springing away when he hissed in anger and launched a wave of pure darkness at her. Caught off guard, the priestess was thrown several feet and rolled to a stop on the ground, groaning painfully as her sword stabbed into the ground somewhere near her. That **had not** been fun for her injured shoulder. But... this gave her an excellent idea.

"Kaname!" she shouted, lobbing the Artemis rod at the younger vampire and hoping beyond hope that she hadn't just made a stupid mistake. He caught it, the weapon sparking and shock him, before seeming to recognize him and transforming. Instead of a silvery-white rod, the handle turned a dark steely color, the blade of a scythe growing out of one end. The crackling energy surrounded the new weapon and Kagome watched in awe as the other Pureblood flipped the scythe and cut straight through Rido's defenses. With a hunter weapon being used, there was little Rido could do but retreat.

The priestess, however, had another thought in mind and whipped up her hand, surrounding the escaping vampire in a dome of pink energy. That would keep him busy for a few moments. Kaname blinked, stepping away from the barrier and turning to go to the human girl staggering to her feet. Now that his "Uncle" was somewhat contained, he could investigate this priestess that looked, smelled, sounded like, and felt like **his** Kagome.

Kagome rose to her feet and prepared to go after Rido, but stopped, panting for air and carefully watching as Kaname approached her.

"It's... really you. You're alive," he whispered, stopping in front of her and reaching out a shaking hand to touch her hair. "You... But that marker-!"

"What marker?" Rido smashed his power through the barrier holding him, easily shredding the defense. Turning to see the two occupied fighters, he rose to his full height and prepared to obliterate them.

"The one next to your brother's grave. It's-!"

"You... went and saw them?" she gulped, turning her head in guilt and shame. It was yet another reminder of how she'd failed them.

"Yes. They were like a family to me. But that... marker," he got back onto topic, "I thought it was... yours."

"That... Kaname, that's Buyo's grave," the priestess deadpanned. At the slightly lost look on his inhuman face, she explained further, "The cat?"

The vampire blinked. "...Oh. I see." And somwhere in his heart, he was all kinds of relieved. He'd thought he was going insane talking to her right here. Seeing her after so damn long!

"Yeah... If I'd known that you were the boy from my past, I would have said something. But... then I forgot about you after I met the you in the far past," she explained quietly, stumbling slightly when he pulled her roughly to him in a fierce hug, "It's because you're a vampire. You made me forget all about vampires, so that means I never remembered you when we were kids."

Kaname sighed gently and tightened his hold on her. This time, she wouldn't be allowed to escape. "I suppose I hindered myself. Had I known that I would see you again, I wouldn't have made the spell quite so powerful."

"You... You were trying to protect me, Kaname," the priestess replied, leaning back to really see him again, "... Thank you." Then she smacked him harshly on the arm, adding a little purification to zap him. The former ancestor flinched and gave her a hurt look as he stepped back.

"But let me give you some great advice, Vampire King Kaname," the priestess growled, grabbing the lapel of his jacket and yanking him down to her level. His eyes widened in shock. He was surprised at the show of strength. He knew, for a fact, that humans were **not** that strong. "The next time you decide I should have my memories modified for my safety, do us all a favor and **Don't. Do. It**!"

Letting him go, she stepped around him and pulled up a barrier when Rido tried to throw a wave of pure force at them. The attack slid off and the bright pink light flickered and faded. "It took a lot of Takuma's time and help to bring them back."

"... I should have known a descendant of Takeru's would do that."

"Well, get over it," the priestess grit her teeth and yanked her sword from the ground. It glowed briefly, purifying the blood from its blade, before resuming its natural sheen. Rido's mismatched eyes widened in shock before he turned and fled. In the direction that Zero and Yuuki had gone with Kirara.

"We need to catch him before he tries to turn Yuuki again," she said, narrowing her eyes sharply as she followed the bats hanging in the air. They disappeared far too quickly from her sight for her comfort.

"That blade..."

"Belonged to the priestess Midoriko. She gave it to me when I purified the Shikon no Tama," she interrupted, swinging it experimentally and wincing when it pulled at her shoulder wound. Blood dripped down her arm morbidly, but she paid it no mind. Kaname wasn't so lucky. He couldn't stop staring at the reddening spot on her back; the crimson color pattering quietly on the ground. Somewhere in his head, where he was still processing information, he filed away the words she told him. Shikon no Tama? If that was true, then Kagome was **a lot** stronger than she'd ever let on.

"I didn't want to have to use it, but it looks like I'm going to have to." Stepping away from the shade of the trees, she trudged down the lawn quickly and never once looked back. Kaname quickly pursued her, throat dry and eyes red. Her blood smelled... absolutely mouth-watering. There was no way he would be able to resist her if she kept that up.

"Wait!" He grabbed her uninjured arm and swung her around, "You need to... take care of that. You'll bleed to death."

Kagome smiled genially at him and shook her head, "I've got a lot to tell you. When all of this is over, we'll sit down and have a nice long heart-to-heart, Kaname. I won't die that easily. At least, not anymore."

Kaname sighed and looked her over; really looked her over. "You've... changed."

"I had to," she replied quietly, avoiding his crimson gaze, "A lot of things happened. There was no way I'd be able to stay the same."

"I know. You're stronger than the last time I really saw you." He gently brushed a few strands of her long dark hair away from her pale face, "I'm glad. It means you're better able to protect yourself."

And then he kissed her. She tasted just as sweet as the last time he'd done so; back when they were but kids. The priestess seemed surprised, and she grabbed his shoulders to support herself, dropping her sword in the process; but she didn't back away. Didn't want to.

He took that as a good sign. Careful of his fangs, he assaulted her senses in a dizzying display of passion that left her breathless and wanting more when they parted.

"Why did you-!"

"It took me five hundred years to do that. I'm not taking it back!" he hissed, the dark look in his crimson eyes daring her to argue. She gulped and shook her head. **Why** was it that nearly every vampire she was coming into contact with tonight wanted to kiss her? Sighing in triumph, he slid his hands into her long hair and kissed her again. This time, he was so gentle it almost made her cry. She didn't really understand why he wanted her, of all people, but if they could put away eachother's loneliness, then maybe things would turn out okay. It was a feeling that not even Ichijou had been able to invoke in her. There had been sparks when the blonde had kissed her, sure, but the all consuming fire?

Her cell phone buzzed, and she ripped herself away from him with a snarl. Snatching the device, she noted the name on the front and flipped it open angrily. He, in turn, leaned back in and licked her injured cheek, not only to taste the fine blood, but to close up the injury with his saliva.

"**What** could you **possibly** want with me right now?" Kagome hissed, turning to pace away from the very handsome vampire that was probably on the verge of having a little sexy time with her. Damn, but she hated her life sometimes.

_"Stop playing tonsil hockey with the vampire and hurry up! The humans aren't going to protect theirselves,"_ Shippo's voice teased brazenly. She'd never wanted the throttle the fox more than she did right now.

"... When's the last time I tested my purification abilities on you, Shippo-darling?" the priestess countered in a tone so sweet, it had even Kaname's teeth on edge. She was certainly capable of backing that statement up. He was sure of it.

_"Well, for wanting revenge, you're sure taking your sweet time,"_ Shippo reminded her, completely dousing the internal fire that Kaname had lit. The thought alone made her sick and giddy at the same time. She was so close...

"Rest assured, I **have not** forgotten about that monster. You don't need to remind me of my promise to myself," she replied, steel lining her voice and an entirely different fire lighting in her blue eyes. She snapped the phone shut before the red-head on the other line could say anything else.

"Kagome?"

Taking a deep breath and re-centering herself, she turned back to the former king and gave him a razor smile, "I'm okay. We'll... talk about this... about everything later, okay? Right now, I've got a Pureblood to purify."

"Rido... He did something to you," the dark-haired prince hissed lowly, anger boiling visciously inside. She nodded and lifted her sword back up.

"He killed my family. It's my responsibility to make him pay, so that they can rest in peace," Kagome admitted, shrugging nonchalontly and walking past him, "I trust you won't get in my way?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'll be happy to assist in that fool's death," he replied, cracking his knuckles in a reminiscent way of Inuyasha and starting in the direction of his "Uncle's" dark aura. They had a vampire to exterminate. After that, things would fall into their proper places.

And no matter what, there was no way he was going to **ever** let her go.

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A/N: THE END!

You may now decide for yourselves how the two team up and kill Rido in the most vicious ways possible. And later get together and have lots of little half-vampire babies. Or full-blooded, if you decide that he turns her. It's your call.

I hope you all enjoyed the final chapter of **The Red Sin**! Despite the fact that the brain ninjas absolutely slaughtered me to get this finished, I really had a lot of fun writing this story! This is my first ever completed multi-chaptered story! I am very proud of myself!

You guys have been an amazing crowd! I really appreciate all of your support and your love! I hope I've done some justice by finishing up this story, but honestly, if I delve into this particular crossover anymore, it'll probably be a One-Shot. It was a demon beast to write and keep in character as much as possible. Also, I prefer funny and fun, rather than dark and dramatic.

Then again, I cried myself after I re-read where Kagome chose Kaname in the end rather than Ichijou. I got really attached to Ichijou, actually. It was... sad. So much so that I want to write something Kagome/Ichijou to make up for it. I'm thinking One-Shot guys.

Those final reviews will never fail to make me smile. I hope you feel the same.

Revision (April 22 2011)


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